MARK Hughes is proud of the way his squad have battled their way to seventh place in the "hardest league in the world".

But with the last day defeat to Birmingham City costing Rovers a place in Europe next season, it has left a bitter taste in the Rovers manager's mouth.

"We are obviously happy with the seventh place, but it is difficult to pat ourselves on the back given we've just got beaten 4-1" said Hughes after the game.

"Over the course of the season I have to say that the lads have been absolutely magnificent, it has been a huge effort by everyone, the staff, players, everybody surrounding the club and everybody who is part of the club.

"For us to get seventh position in arguably the hardest league in world football then it is a huge effort by everybody.

"Maybe in a couple of weeks I'll be able to console myself with the fact that we are seventh but at the moment I can't do.

"But over the course of 38 games, we very nearly kept it down to single-figure defeats, so it has been a huge effort."

Hughes is sure that with the same application and effort Rovers can go further and do better in the 2008/09 campaign.

"We'll come again next season and we've got to build on this. We need to keep striving to be better and make sure games like this don't happen," added Hughes.

"This year we turned losses into drawn games, next season we want to turn those draws into wins and if we can do that then we'll have and exceptional season again."

Get your Season Ticket for the 2008/09 season right now, see here for pricing and application forms.