Blackburn Rovers FC

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Hughes hails young stars

08 Jan 2007 - 09:06:55

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Blackburn Rovers manager Mark Hughes defended his decision to field a weakened side for Sunday's FA Cup third round clash at Everton, a tie that his team eventually won 4-1.

Hughes included Aaron Mokoena, Jay McEveley, Matt Derbyshire and Paul Gallagher in his starting line-up, but the result was never in doubt after Rovers surged into a 3-0 first-half lead.

"We were excellent, I thought it was important that we came to the game and had a real go at it," said the Rovers boss.

"I think people may have felt that we had come here to just fulfil the fixture, given the team that I put out, but that wasn't how I viewed it.

"I picked a team that I thought would get the job done and that's exactly what happened.

"I thought we were excellent, the two young guys up front came in, wanted to show the energy that they had and they wanted to make an impact.

"They caused the back four of Everton all day long and scored some great goals along the way. To score four goals away from home was a fantastic return for us."