Morten Gamst Pedersen hailed Sam Allardyce as Rover’s saviour – and admitted he had played no small part in saving his Ewood Park career – after guaranteeing Premier League survival, on this day in 2010.

Pedersen felt Rovers’ top-flight lives were hanging by a thread after December’s 3-0 defeat at Wigan saw them five points adrift of safety and led to the dismissal of under fire boss Paul Ince.

But Allardyce’s appointment coincided with Rovers picking up 27 points from his 19 games in charge, leaving them 14th in the table.

The Norwegian midfielder scored his first goal of the season in the 2-0 win over Portsmouth and said: Pedersen said: “Since the gaffer has come in, we have done really well. We have been keeping things simple. The manager has been keeping things organised and he has been good for us.

“He knew we could not take any chances and sometimes we have had to play a little ugly. He is so organised. He came in and has done a really good job and we are saved now.”

Earlier in the season Pedersen revealed he was ready to quit Rovers, when he was out of favour under Ince, but has enjoyed a renaissance under Allardyce.

“The gaffer has helped me a lot as well. My form has improved greatly and since he has been here, things have just got better and better.

"It was an important goal but it is the team who have been working together.”

Benni McCarthy also scored from the spot as Rovers eased any lingering relegation worries, with Allardyce hailing survival as his most impressive job in management.

“I think it is the most difficult thing I have had to do since I have been a manager. Because of the time factor when you actually arrive,” he said.

“I was working with a strange group of players and a backroom staff that was foreign to me.

“It means everything. I want to be a Premier League manager, I wanted to stay as a Premier League manager.

"I came and took on a difficult job and haven’t really worried too much.

“I obviously worry, but not so much as I thought I might, because the players have always done their best and always got a result when needed one.

“I don’t want to be there again. I don’t like it. It is extremely worrying as a manager when you are around that position.

“If you look at the run and look at the home record it shows how well they have done.

"I have been fearful at times but they have responded that well I have never been that anxious.”

Allardyce’s thoughts had already turned to the following season, with a striker top of his priority list.

However, with targets Aruna Dindane and Robert Lewandowski both set to prove elusive, Allardyce was well aware of the tough task he was facing in the transfer market.

“If the younger players grow we won’t suffer too many problems if we get a player who can score a goal,” he said. “We have to find the best forward we possibly can to try and score extra goals.

“About 58 per cent of our goals come from set plays, which is a huge amount because we have missed too many from elsewhere. If we had converted the chances we should have converted that percentage should be 30 per cent.

“When Blackburn signed Benni McCarthy he scored 20 odd goals and they came in the top eight, Roque Santa Cruz the next season top eight again. Put 12 clean sheets together and find a goal scorer who scores 20 goals and you are a top eight team.

“It is all about the finance. That is the problem. It is not the finding of the player, the player is there, it is whether we can finance it or not. Our targets will come and go, they always do.

“If other Premier League clubs starts competing it is going to be very difficult for us to be the winner.

“The only way we can be the winner is by selling the football club as a very, very good place to work.

"I am not dooming and glooming, this is reality.”