Blackburn Rovers Football Club

• Nickname:Rovers
• Founded:1875
• Manager:Michael Appleton

• Ground:Ewood Park
• Capacity:31367

Hughes: United for the title

01 Apr 2007 - 07:54:26

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Blackburn Rovers boss Mark Hughes has tipped Manchester United to win the Premiership title after watching his side collapse in the face of a second-half onslaught during the 4-1 defeat at Old Trafford.

Rovers had forged ahead through Matt Derbyshire's first-half strike, before United moved through the gears after the interval and edged a step closer to winning the title thanks to goals by Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick, Ji-Sung Park and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

"United will not be denied now," claimed Hughes. "In fact I think they will win it comfortably.

"For 60 minutes we were really in the game. The crowd were a bit anxious and I felt we were going to capitalise on it.

"But they were able to galvanise themselves and show why they are champions-elect.

"This was a key game in their season and they won it."

Hughes admitted he felt the writing was on the wall when Scholes pulled the home side level on the hour-mark.

"I've seen Paul do that so many times," added Hughes.

"He has such a cool head in those situations and such great technical ability once he gets into position, there wasn't much doubt about where the ball was going to end up."