Hughes: The lads were fantastic today

MANAGER Mark Hughes was full of praise for the new boys after Rovers completed their first double of the season with the 1-0 win over Portsmouth.

"We were a little bit worried going into the game obviously," said Hughes after the game.

"We'd lost Lucas and Dom, Barry and Flitty prior to the game, so there was a little bit of trepidation, but the lads who came in were fantastic and stuck to their task and we were worthy winners I thought.

"We had to weather a little bit of pressure towards the end as you would expect, but over all I thought we well deserved the three points.

"The all played well at the back today, but for Aaron to come in and play as he did, and Ryan on his debut, I thought they were both fantastic. A good bit of business."

Rovers had no less than six players booked in the game, but it was far from a dirty encounter.

"It was a strange game in that respect," said Hughes, "I don't think it ever was a game that warranted the amount of disciplinary action that the referee seemed to want to give out.

"But we kept out discipline and kept the eleven on the pitch was important."

Rovers now have a clear nine points between themselves and the bottom three.

"It makes such a difference getting the three points rather than the one point. We've been difficult to beat for a long time now but it is just now that getting three points instead of one makes a massive difference."

The win sees Rovers rise to 15th in the table.

Rovers World subscribers can get all the post match reaction from today's game on Monday's edition.