SAM Allardyce has challenged his more experienced squad members to help ease Rovers’ Premier League woes – insisting he remains cautious about expecting Nikola Kalinic to be an instant remedy.

Blackburn Rovers’ £6million summer signing gave the biggest glimpse of his obvious potential in Thursday night’s Carling Cup semi final first leg defeat to Aston Villa, hitting the post twice, but Allardyce warns not to expect too much too soon from the player.

Kalinic, 22, has made just one Premier League start this season since arriving from Hadjuk Split but many Rovers fans believe the Croatian could provide the solution to their lack of firepower, ahead of tomorrow’s visit of Fulham.

Allardyce though wants his more senior players to ease the pressure on his young gun, rather than expecting Kalinic to become Rovers’ saviour.

He 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.

“I felt the rest of the team had enough to bring him on slowly. The rest of the team haven’t scored the goals I expected. Not just the strikers, I am talking about everybody.

“His performance suggested he is almost ready. I am still very careful regarding the fact if he doesn’t get the goal he is looking for then his performances could leave him quickly, he could lose his confidence and it may never return.

“I am wanting the more experienced players to step up to the fray and get back to what we know they can do rather than relying on him too much.

“It would be very nice if he could be broke in on a regular basis and scored. We have paid a small amount of money for him, but in terms of Blackburn it is quite considerable. People think he should be scoring 20 and that is the perception of this league we live in.

“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.”

Kalinic has been Rovers’ nearly man this season after squandering several golden chances to convert his promising cameos into goals.

His goal return of three could easily read seven, after creating numerous goal scoring opportunities, with Allardyce admitting his players need to show more shared responsibility.

“He has created the chances but for whatever reason, like the rest of the lads, we can’t convert them into goals,” said Allardyce. “Looking back, even with his substitute appearances and the way he played last night, he could have five or six goals by now.

“We would like to see him score and Thursday night was a very unfortunate situation for him and for us. There was not a lot more he could have done with the chances.

“If they go wide you can be critical but when you are hitting the inside of the post and going wide you can’t criticise that too much. The quality of the finishing was good but for us it didn’t turn into a goal.

“Of course having a 20-goal a season man would make the difference but where is a club like this going find that? It was very fortunate to find a Roque Santa Cruz who scored 19 in one season and the club nearly finished in Europe.

“When you haven’t got that goal scorer you can see the difference in the table, it is not rocket science. A team like ours always has to have the responsibility to share the goals, but we are down on those goals as a unit and as a squad.”