Source: PA
Allardyce sees a positive in defeat
Jon Walters won praise from Sam Allardyce, the first manager to hand him a professional contract, after the striker condemned his Blackburn side to a 1-0 defeat.
Stoke's summer signing scored his first Barclays Premier League goal for the club by finding the target in the 47th minute.
Walters, 27, a £2.75million buy from Ipswich, started out at Bolton - he was at Blackburn in his youth - when Allardyce was in charge. Despite being angry at the way his side had allowed Walters to score, Allardyce had nothing but praise for the player.
Allardyce said: "Jon has done exceptionally well. It is down to his dedication and hard work and maximising his ability that he has finally made it back to the top level.
"Full marks and all credit to him because it has been a long journey through the lower divisions. You don't often see a young man today going down the leagues and getting back to the very top level.
"Obviously I am gutted he scored because it has won them the game. That's the most frustrating thing for me, the way we conceded it. You don't often see our central defenders messing it up like that to let a nothing situation develop into a goalscoring situation. Bog-standard, basic defending has let us down."
