Sam Allardyce felt there were plenty of positives to go along side with the 3-1 win over Norwich City in the second round of the Carling Cup on Tuesday evening.

A Mame Biram Diouf hat-trick may have stole the show, but it was the contribution made by those who haven't had much game time recently that pleased the Rovers boss just as much.

"It was nice to have Vince back and it was nice to have Pascal back on the field and Lars for game and match fitness particularly," Sam told Radio Rovers.

"Chris Samba is catching up because he missed a lot of pre-season. At the younger end, Amine Linganzi and Junior Hoilett got a little run out too.

"We may have rested a lot of players, we made eight changes, but it was still a very strong competitive skilful team we put out.

"And a little try at Morten up the top again which worked very well indeed. So whilst Mame will grab the headlines, he's a lot to thank Morten for because of his movement, his final ball, his delivery was excellent, and that is a nice alternative for me to see."

Rovers are back in action at Ewood Park on Saturday in the 12:45pm kick-off against Arsenal. Tickets are on open sale, full details can be found here. Book online now at www.onerovers.co.uk