Allardyce hails hat-trick hero Diouf

Sam Allardyce paid tribute to on-loan striker Mame Biram Diouf after he scored a hat-trick in Blackburn's 3-1 Carling Cup win over Norwich. The 22-year-old, brought in from Manchester United earlier this month, rewarded his boss for handing him his first start after two Premier League appearances with an impressive performance in the second-round tie.Diouf, a Senegal international, headed the opener in the 29th minute, stabbed home his second 11 minutes from time and nodded in a third late on but could easily have had a couple more, having hit the bar from close range."We made hard work of it to be honest," admitted Allardyce."I thought we had already had many chances to get the second goal before we finally got it and it was a really good performance and a comfortable victory."Diouf scored three very good goals but could have scored more than that - the easiest one he missed when he headed it on to the bar."A hat-trick for one of our players is always very encouraging and hopefully he can carry on scoring in the Premier League."But he took up lovely positions; for the first goal he drifts off to the far post, gets himself unmarked and waits for the flick-on and then runs in and taps it in."His third one he pulls away unmarked at the far post, Morten (Gamst Pedersen) floats in a lovely ball and he couldn't really miss that one."He does look a natural goalscorer in that he drifts into the right positions and that is not coachable."If we put balls in those sort of areas he will get on the end of them and that is not what we have got really."Allardyce was also impressed by Pedersen's performance as he played alongside Diouf instead of his usual midfield role."He played up top today, which is what we did in Sydney (in a pre-season friendly)," the Rovers boss added."I have to say I was thoroughly impressed with him up front today, it's a nice alternative to see him playing at the top end."He provided a lot of good quality for other players."Berthal Askou's 90th-minute goal was little consolation for Norwich, whose manager Paul Lambert admitted could have dealt with Diouf better."I thought we played well in certain parts of the game but they are a major threat from set-pieces and we got hurt with the first one," he said."We kept on going and created chances ourselves and their goalkeeper pulled off some good saves."It was not the first header from the long throw that is the problem, it is the second one."You have to match runners and if you don't match runners that's what happens, especially at the higher level you go up."We'll learn from it for sure."

Source: Team_Talk