ROVERS captain Ryan Nelsen has dedicated Saturday's 3-2 victory over Everton to new boss Paul Ince.

After a summer where discontent and disruption was the subject of discussion amongst the media, Saturday's display and victory certainly went a long way to dispelling such talk once and for all.

Rovers started strongly with David Dunn scoring a stunning opening goal, but a Mikel Arteta free-kick levelled things just before the break, then when Yakubu headed the home side in front it looked like it would be a day to forget for Paul Ince. But Roque Santa Cruz equalised moments later before Andre Ooijer lashed home the winner in a frantic finale.

And according to Nelsen it was the performance and determination displayed by the team, that shows the squad is very much together.

"We had a lot of doubters and a lot of people that were saying some not so nice stuff about us the whole of pre-season and I hoped that has proved a lot of people wrong," said the Kiwi.

"We knew it was not true, we knew it was a load of rubbish and we wanted to prove that we are hopefully going to be right up there once again.

"I'm so happy for the boss, again he got some criticism that was so out of line and he didn't deserve it. He's been fantastic and to give this first win for him, all the boys are buzzing."