Mark Hughes has admitted he delivered a rare "rollicking" to his Blackburn players following Saturday's defeat at Goodison - a result which dented the club's European aspirations.

After beating Manchester United 4-3 on their last outing at Ewood Park, Rovers have since slumped to desperately disappointing defeats at West Brom and Everton and Hughes felt the need to make his point in forceful terms to the players.

The Rovers chief said: "At times you have to make the players aware that certain things aren't acceptable and they understood where I was coming from. "They felt the disappointment as much as I did.

"It's not the first time I have had to do so, but to be fair I can count those occasions on one hand because certainly this year the players have been exceptional in the way they have gone about their business.

"I think we have to recognise when opportunities present themselves and maybe we didn't take them. Given the games and the situations we found ourselves in, we didn't really make the most of the opportunities.

"That was the disappointment because it meant we didn't consolidate our position in the top half of the Premier League."