STEVE Kean believes Nikola Kalinic has shown his willingness to learn after the Croatian striker scored his first Premier League two-goal haul.

The 22-year-old’s brace on Tuesday fired Blackburn Rovers to a crucial 3-1 win at West Brom and even his second-half red card failed to dampen his manager’s praise for him.

Boss Steve Kean did describe Kalinic’s rash challenge on Paul Scharner as “disappointing” and said he would not be appealing the sending off, leaving the striker now suspended for the next three games.

But Kean saw enough from the £6million man to see a bright future, and has backed Kalinic to build on Tuesday’s contribution in the rest of the campaign.

Kean said: “He did lead the line really well. There wasn’t a great number of clear cut chances he had from the Stoke game.

“We are trying to encourage him when the opposition have the ball, to stand to the side of the centre half instead of remaining in the middle.

“I think he did that really well a number of times, none less than when he cut inside and finished well for the goal.

“That is something where he has taken the information on and he showed the anticipation for the second goal that has always been there.”

Former boss Sam Allardyce warned Rovers fans it could take Kalinic 18 months to adjust to the Premier League after bringing him to England from Hajduk Split for a £6m price tag in Summer 2009.

Kean added: “It is promising for the future and hopefully he can build from that when he comes back.

“If we can get people chipping in from the top of the pitch and not just relying on set-plays then that is brilliant.”