McCarthy warns Premier rivals: We're back!

The South African striker bagged a brace as Rovers ended their 11-match winless streak with an emphatic 3-0 victory over Stoke before hailing Allardyce for restoring the smiles at Ewood.

McCarthy, making his 100th appearance for Rovers, only started because of Roque Santa Cruz's late calf injury but grabbed his chance to inspire an explosive start to the Allardyce era.

Jason Roberts' opportunistic strike sandwiched McCarthy's goals as Rovers raced into a 3-0 lead on 27 minutes to breathe fresh life into their Premier League survival hopes.

Rovers remain second from bottom in the table, but having built their reputation in recent years on being tough to beat , McCarthy believes the old mentality has finally returned.

He said: “It was clear how we have to play, how the game should be played and we were back doing things we used to do in previous years.

“Things we did under Mark Hughes and things we forgot how to do. We forgot what it was like to win games.

“Once you do that, it's really hard to get a win under your belt.

“Today a new manager came in, he wanted to get that feeling and faith back again. Everyone went out and put their shirt on and said they would sweat blood.”

McCarthy's double helped Rovers to only their second home win of the season and, with crucial games ahead, the striker emphasised the importance of enjoying themselves once again.

He said: “For the last 10 or 11 games we didn't know what it was like to win. It was a fantastic day and getting to the dressing room everyone had big smiles on their faces.

“We got a fantastic victory and hopefully now we can build on it and look forward to getting ourselves out of the big mess we find ourselves in.

“The crowd got behind us and it was fantastic. After everything they are still supporting us. It was a great ride today and I'm just happy we could get the three points.”

Allardyce hailed McCarthy's “top class” performance and insisted every player starts his era with a clean slate.

After a prolific start to life in Lancashire the South African has flattered to deceive over the past 12 months but Allardyce knows it is the future that matters.

“Benni is a wonderful talent and he showed that today,” he said. “I hope I can continue to drag that amount of quality out of him from now until the end of the season.

“If he can get to repeat what he did in his first year here, that would be wonderful.

“I don't know about his condition at the start of the season that is all in the past as far as I am concerned.

“I haven't known him that long, I will just have to find out over time. Like every footballer, he wants to play football. But like every manager, I want him to play to his best standard. If that is the case, we won't have any problems.”