CHRIS Samba believes Mark Hughes’ inside knowledge worked against a ‘two-faced’ Blackburn Rovers.

The Ewood skipper admits their second-half display was disappointing but believes former boss Hughes had his new Fulham charges well-prepared.

Samba opened the scoring with a first-half header but Clint Dempsey equalised after the break as Rovers struggled to impose any control on the game.

Samba said: “That’s twice he’s come here and got a draw. He knows this place very well.

“He knows a lot of the players. That makes him difficult for us to play against.

"We know he’s a good manager and he knows all about us.

“Fulham look like they are a good passing side, but at the start of the first half we should have punished them more.

“I don’t know what happened at the start of the second half, we lost it a bit. We showed two faces – one good, one bad.”

Hughes quit Ewood Park for Manchester City in the summer of 2008 after four successful seasons in East Lancashire.

‘Sparky’ though was still on the receiving end on some inevitable Ewood stick, but Samba preferred to focus on the future.

He said: “Over the years, managers come and go. There’s no doubt Mark Hughes did really well when he was here.

"I enjoyed playing under him. Now we have another manager who is loved by the fans.

“I’m sure there is a respect from the fans for what he did, but it’s two-and-a-half years since he left.

"The page has turned on him and now we have to look to the future.

“He’s been at another club in between these two so that shows you a lot of time has passed.

"We know what a good manager he was and we wish him well, but it has to be about us now, Blackburn.

“It’s all about what we do and I think our fans see that.

"Don’t get me wrong, I’m eternally grateful for what Mark Hughes did for me.

“He brought me here and gave me my chance in English football.

"But you’ve to to move on and I’m grateful to Sam for putting his trust in me by giving me the armband.

"Time has passed and personalities change, you have to move on.”

Samba’s opener was shrouded in controversy with Fulham adamant El-Hadji Diouf had fouled goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer in the build up.

The giant defender though insisted Rovers knew the Australian was susceptible to crosses.

“I was surprised to see the ball end up in the back of the net,” he said.

“I was not expecting it to end up there. All I got was a touch on it.

“Schwarzer is a big guy compared to small Dioufy. At the end of the day, he’s a keeper and he’s got to take everything with him when he comes out.

"The referee didn’t think it was a foul so we don’t really care.

“We knew before the game that Schwarzer is not comfortable coming for the ball.

"So we decided to drop a few balls in and put pressure on.

“It could have worked for us and led to us getting all three points, but we were not as good in the second half.”