ROVERS defender Henning Berg today urged his team-mates to put the disappointment of Saturday's Cup defeat behind them as they focus on the real challenge of beating Birmingham on Wednesday night.

Goals from Sylvain Wiltord and Tony Adams inside the opening five minutes at Highbury destroyed Rovers' hopes of booking a place in the FA Cup semi-finals.

But Berg insists his team-mates cannot afford to lick their wounds with Wednesday night's promotion battle at St Andrews looming large on the horizon.

"We were taught a lesson at Highbury but now it's all about how we pick ourselves up," said Berg.

"Our first half performance against Arsenal wasn't what Blackburn are all about so we've got to put this behind us now.

"Hopefully, we can still go to Birmingham with our confidence intact after what we've done in the League so far.

"I know we are still good enough but we've got to start showing that on the pitch.

"Everyone realises what kind of position we are in and what's required.

"We want to go up so we can come back to places like Highbury next season and do ourselves justice.

"It's going to be tough down there but we know we are capable of getting a result."

Despite the disappointment of Saturday's result, Berg believes the whole experience of playing a top Premiership side could turn out to be a valuable education for some of Rovers' young stars.

And, providing they take those lessons on board, the Norwegian insists it will make them better players.

"I thought Martin Taylor looked comfortable in the second half," said Berg.

"He's an outstanding talent with a big future and this can only help him develop as a player.

"And Dunny in midfield will have learnt a few lessons from Saturday as well, especially the way Arsenal worked to close people down, how quickly they passed it and their movement going forward."

Rovers boss Graeme Souness was disappointed his side didn't do themselves justice on the day.

But he refused to criticise his players after an impressive run to the quarter finals.

"We had a good day out and, hopefully, we've learned a great deal from the whole experience," said Souness.

"I'd like to think my players will be richer for the experience of playing at Highbury but we all know what the bigger picture is -- getting out of the First Division.

"We finished the game with six players 22 or under and it's asking a great deal of a young squad to go to a place like Highbury and win.

"The game was over after 20 minutes.

"We were punished for giving the ball away unnecessarily but that's football at this level.

"Make mistakes and you get punished heavily.

"In the second half I changed it and they didn't cause us as many problems.

"How much of the that was down to the change in formation and how much was down to Arsenal taking their foot off the pedal is open to debate -- it was probably a bit of both.

"But I'm certainly not going to be critical of my players because they were up against a marvellous Arsenal team.

"Now we must work on preparing for a huge game against Birmingham on Wednesday.

"We have a chance of promotion and that has to be our priority now."