BOSS Sam Allardyce was full of praise of the performance of makeshift defender Keith Andrews and man of the match Gaël Givet in Sunday's win over Bolton Wanderers.

Rovers recorded their biggest league win of the season with the 3-0 win over the Trotters, but he singled out praise for Andrews and Givet.

With club captain Ryan Nelsen forced off with a knee injury in the first half, it meant a reshuffle at the back, with Allardyce surprisingly opting to put midfielder Keith Andrews alongside Givet.

But after Rovers recorded their 8th clean sheet in 17 games, Allardyce was delighted.

"Under the circumstances what a performance from Keith and Gaël," enthused the Rovers boss.

"They are both under six foot, we were without Chris Samba and we've lost Ryan Nelsen, our two mainstays at the back but didn't they look comfortable and didn't they do well?

"Without us telling him Keith dropped in when Ryan was injured, and Bobby Mimms tells me that in his Wolves days he played there a couple of times. So that came back to my mind.

"It was a big decision to make, should I bring on Pascal? Choose Nzonzi? But I wanted Steven to sit in front of the back four and win the headers there rather than go to the back plus he's never played in the back four.

"So Keith was the man and luckily for us it has paid off. Another clean sheet and a 3-0 win, our biggest of the season."

The extent of Ryan Nelsen's injury isn't yet known, but Rovers' defensive options are boosted as Chris Samba will be available for next Sunday's match against Liverpool following his two-match ban.