Steven Reid made his welcome return the top flight, and Blackburn Rovers, with a solid 70 minute contribution during his teams victory at Craven Cottage.

 

Reid has been on loan at Queens Park Rangers and the midfielder was thought to have played his last match at Ewood Park but a fit-again Eire international has arrived at the right time for Rovers boss Sam Allardyce as he juggles his squad. "We've got so many games that we need to use the squad to its full potential and get some fresher legs in there. He's bursting at the seams to try and get out their and prove he can still be a Premier League footballer after so long. So it can only be an uphill spiral for him if he stays free of injury."

Allardyce has also been positive about summer signing Nikola Kalinic who has yet to see regular first team football at Blackburn since his £6M arrival from Hadjuk Split. The Croatian performed well in the Carling Cup semi-final first leg defeat by Aston Villa but 22 year-old Kalinic is not the immediate solution to Rovers lack of fire power. Allardyce said “His performance Thursday night was encouraging. I didn’t really bring him here this season to be the top man because it is investing in a young player that can progress and ultimately be very good for the team. He is a young player though who has the ability to grow into a very good striker but not just yet. You can’t expect it to be instant when you are paying just £6million. That is the reality.”