Days off key to Blackburn win, says Allardyce

Sam Allardyce has revealed the secret of Blackburn’s 3-0 win over Wolves – cancelling training because of Britain’s freezing weather.

With Rovers’ training ground inaccessible due to heavy snowfall and icy roads, Allardyce afforded the coaching and playing staff two rare days off.

The unscheduled break appeared to do the team a power of good, as they cruised to a comfortable win over Wolves at Ewood Park on Saturday.

“I benefited hugely from the two days off and I’m sure the players did,” Allardyce said.

Until the win over Wolves, the former Bolton and Newcastle United manager was still reeling from Blackburn’s 7-1 mauling at the hands of Manchester United last time out.

“I was really quite mentally fatigued because it’s never off your mind when something like that happens,” he said.

“We were very disappointed but we didn’t want to make the players any more disappointed. They were hurting all week and they knew they had to make sure they put it right.”

“I picked the strongest side I had available today and they’ve gone and done the job. You’ve got to be satisfied to come back from a 7-1 defeat and win 3-0 at home.”

“David Dunn’s goal settled us down because we weren’t looking too clever up to that point. The goal settled us down a bit because of the nerves from last week.”

“We were clinical and professional. We’re climbing the heights now and I have to credit the players.”

“They were determined to put last week’s result behind them and they’ve done a magnificent job.”

Wolves boss Mick McCarthy was left bemoaning his team’s poor display at the back, which is fast becoming a feature of their increasingly troubled season.

“We defended badly,” McCarthy said.

“Bearing in mind we haven’t had a clean sheet for so long, maybe it’s not a surprise.”

“We had a bit of bad luck at the start by not scoring but then let’s have an ugly point at 0-0, not concede goals that we shouldn’t concede.”

“We started the game really well. We’ve just got to keep going and keep working at it.”