SAM Allardyce has urged Blackburn Rovers’ knockers to give them more credit after hailing a ‘club effort’ in making Ewood Park a Premier League fortress.

Rovers entertain high-flying Birmingham City this evening within touching distance of securing Premier League safety after Sunday’s creditable 1-1 draw with Chelsea – with Allardyce sick of the ‘sour grapes’ from some.

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti was the latest to take a sly swipe at Rovers’ style, by failing to acknowledge his side were matched by Allardyce’s men, but the boss insists the club as a whole deserve better.

He pointed to their ‘Champions League’ Ewood Park form as reason for praise before hailing the impact a vocal Ewood Park has had on their Premier League fortunes this campaign.

He said: “We have very rarely let the fans go home disappointed from Ewood this season. The turnaround of support to us, irrespective of the few boos because I didn’t make the right substitution in their eyes on Sunday, has been great this season.

“We have had a great backing, we did against Chelsea. The support around the ground started to build with the performance.

“We have had a massive increase in our average gate.

“The opening up of the Darwen End, who sing away in that corner, is really important to us.

“It spreads from there to the other end because it makes the others sing and that is always great for a player.

“Our form is based on our home form. We are going into our sixth game at home, having won four and drawn one, so that is a major success story for us.

“Our home form would be Champions League, that is a great bonus but the flip side of that is our away form is relegation.

“We got no credit from Ancelotti, it was the usual you get when you get a result against the big boys.

“We didn’t get much credit but that is the norm.

“You look at some of the players we were missing. We had our England goalkeeper missing, the centre half who is the captain of New Zealand and who is a great stalwart at Blackburn, Vince Grella off to the World Cup with Australia and Gael Givet who is a former French international with great experience.

“That is a bigger miss for us than Chelsea missing Essien or Cole.”

Allardyce believes victory over the Premier League’s surprise team, Birmingham, tonight will definitely secure their top flight status for another season as he calls for another atmospheric evening at Ewood.

He admitted he was surprised by the negative reaction to the second-half withdrawal of Nikola Kalinic on Sunday but insisted the traditional ‘two up front’ style does not work in today’s Premier League.

“It did quite surprise me because I didn’t quite expect that reaction from a small section of the crowd,” said Allardyce.

“There were only boos because they wanted me to play two up front. The trouble is football fans are well informed but seriously there are very, very few with two up front in the entire Premier League.

“Chelsea don’t, Manchester United don’t, so I’m not too sure why we should play with two up front. That was the shout based on the 4-4-2 rubbish you get. It is an antiquated system. It doesn’t work in the Premier League any more.

“Fans believe, like most people believe, that as a manager you are okay but ‘we know better than you’.

“That is why the game is so interesting.

“The vast majority of teams we play against can afford much, much better players than we can so we can ill afford them out numbering us in midfield.”

Rovers follow this evening’s visit of Birmingham with trips to bitter East Lancashire rivals Burnley on Sunday and relegation certainties Portsmouth the weekend after.

Allardyce has labelled these fixtures as ‘the big three’ as they look to break into the top 10, and believes the next fortnight’s results will have a major bearing on the rest of the campaign.

He said: “I am sat with eight games to go, 35 points and the next three games will tell us where we are going to finish. It is up to the players whether we finish with a flurry or let the season peter away.

“It is going to be difficult for the bottom three to be catching us but we have Burnley and Portsmouth after Birmingham, and that is why I say this is the big three for us.

“If we do get good results against them then it gives up the impetus to change our away results at Burnley and Portsmouth.

“We could then be looking to catch a Birmingham after that.

“Alex McLeish has been wise in the transfer market and that is what ultimately will help you be successful or not. Pulling the goalkeeper on loan from City (Joe Hart) is one of the major captures and then Barry Ferguson.

“They are masters of 1-0 wins in the Premier League.”