MARK Hughes was delighted that Rovers were able to claim a valuable victory as they defeated Portsmouth 1-0 at Fratton Park.

Roque Santa Cruz's 21st strike of the season gave Rovers all three points and kept up their slim hopes of a place in the Intertoto Cup at the end of the season.

Speaking after the game, Hughes said: "A draw wasn't really an option for us today, we had to go for it in the second half and I just thought we upped our game ten, fifteen percent and that enabled us to get the goal that we needed and then to see the game out.

"In fairness I don't think Portsmouth created too many opportunities against us, Brad had very little to do.

"Obviously towards the end they are going to throw bodies forward and pump balls into the box but I thought we dealt with that and we were always a threat on the break.

"I thought in the second half we saw the game out comfortably in the end."

After a tight opening half in which neither said threatened often, the switch of formation back to a more familiar 4-4-2 enabled Rovers to gain the upper hand and ultimately go on to claim all three points.

"We need to win the game and the key was at some point in the game, if the game was still level then I was always thinking of pushing Roque in a more advanced position and it seemed to work for us.

"I felt we were coping quite well in midfield, so we pushed Roque up front with Jason and it has come off for us.

"I thought the two guys up front really set the tone for the performance and the result, they were exceptional."