BLACKBURN boss Mark Hughes praised the con-tributions of his two wide-men after Rovers crushed FK Vetra to book a place in the Uefa Cup.

Morten Gamst Pedersen and David Bentley were responsible for laying on all four goals as Rovers thumped the Lithuanian minnows 4-0 in the second leg of their third round Intertoto Cup tie on Saturday, thus sealing a 6-0 victory on aggregate and a return to Europe.

A delighted Hughes said of his side's performance: "I thought the wide-men were the difference.

"We got quality delivery into the box and our general play in wide areas was good, and that's what you've got to do when you've got an extra guy.

"You got to make it pay and we did that by getting the ball in wide areas, and getting good delivery into the box."

Leading 2-0 from the first leg in Vilnius, Rovers effectively killed the tie as a contest by taking a 25th minute lead in the second leg courtesy of Pedersen, who scored with a stooping header from Bentley's cross.

Vetra then suffered a further blow when their Macedonian international Dejan Miloseski saw red for a second bookable offence shortly before half-time, leaving Rovers to run riot.

"We are very pleased," said Hughes.

"Once the first goal went in, the tie was effectively over.

"And when their guy got sent off it was game over from our point of view.

"When you are in that situation you want to make sure you get the job done professionally, and I thought in the second half we used it to great effect.

"It was a good work out, we scored a number of goals, and finished it off in the right way, so I was delighted."

To cap an excellent day, Hughes also completed the signing of Roque Santa Cruz from Bayern Munich for a fee believed to be in the region of £3.8m.

Excited by his latest capture, the Rovers chief said: "He's going to complement the very good strikers I already have here.

"He brings qualities that maybe we didn't already have. Maybe a threat in the air needed to be addressed and we've done that by bringing him in.

"But he also brings great technical ability as well, so I'm excited that he's come to the club."

Hughes beat several other clubs, including Porto and Espanyol, to the signature of Santa Cruz, and he feels Rovers' growing reputation in Europe was one of the reasons why he was successful.

He added: "We shouldn't underestimate the football grapevine.

"I think people understand what we are doing here now, and what they get on a day to day basis.

"Word gets around, players know players at other clubs and they might put in a good word for you, and that then gets you a foot in the door.

"You've also got to make sure you get the deal right, not only for the individual but for the club as well.

"We were able to do that and I'm sure he'll enjoy his day to day work here."