STRIKER Danny Graham says the Rovers squad can be proud of their efforts despite missing out on a place in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup following their 2-1 defeat to Manchester United.

The Blackburn goalscorer in the Red Devils loss praised the performance of his teammates and believes they have ‘set the standard’ ahead of Friday’s trip to Burton Albion.

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Graham’s 12th goal of the season, following enterprising build-up play by Marvin Emnes, gave Rovers a 17th-minute lead and left the home fans dreaming of a possible upset.

But goals from Marcus Rashford and Zlatan Ibrahimovic turned the tie and saw Jose Mourinho’s men in to the last eight.

“It was a great moment obviously to go 1-0 up against Man United you think the shock could be on the cards,” the 31-year-old told Rovers’ official website.

“But they’re a great team, they put us under a lot of pressure second half and it wasn’t to be.

“I think the boys can hold their heads up high and we’ve set a standard now and we need to take that into Friday night’s game.”

Despite the quality of Graham’s finish, much of the credit for Rovers’ opener went to Emnes who impressed in what was his first start since returning to Ewood Park on loan from Swansea City.

And Graham added: “I think Marv deserves a lot of credit. He held the ball up and he turned the guy a couple of times and he slipped me in and I managed to stick it away which was nice,” Graham added.

“But, like I say, we’ve got to turn our attentions now to Burton which is a massive game and one we’ve got to prepare for very quickly.”

Burton are currently five points above Rovers in the table, having played a game more.

The Brewers are in action tonight at Derby County, while fellow strugglers Wigan travel to QPR.

Bristol City, in 21st, host Fulham tomorrow evening, all before Rovers make the trip to the Pirelli Stadium on Friday.

And as the race to avoid the drop hots up, Graham says the focus quickly shifted from their efforts against United to the remaining 15 games of the season.

“We’ve got to turn our attentions now to Burton which is a massive game and one we’ve got to prepare for very quickly,” Graham said.

“We all spoke about it straight after the game.

“Like I said, we’ve set standards now against a very good Manchester United team so we need to keep those standards and hopefully go out there and get the three points we want.

“We need to prepare right for every single game and do our homework, which I’m sure the gaffer and the staff will, and we need to go now with confidence and if we do that I’m sure we’ll be fine.”