Blackburn manager Mark Hughes was full of praise for his 10-man side after their 3-1 victory over Wigan kept alive their hopes of UEFA Cup football.
Paraguay striker Roque Santa Cruz began and ended the scoring with two close-range headers in the 11th and 63rd minutes.
Wigan had equalised through Marlon King's 17th-minute penalty - for which Christopher Samba was sent off for bringing down Emile Heskey - but Jason Roberts scored against his former club on the stroke of half-time to put the hosts back in front.
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Despite their numerical disadvantage - until Wilson Palacios was sent off with 20 minutes to go for a second bookable offence - Rovers were by far the better side and Hughes was delighted.
"I thought we were excellent, a lot of big performances today," said the Rovers boss.
"We got ourselves in a good position 1-0 up and were quite comfortable.
"There was little bit of a mix up on the throw in and Heskey got a clean run through. Chris tried to get back, put a hand on his shoulder and we felt he (Heskey) went down a bit too easily.
"In the circumstances you usually expect a penalty to be given and that was the case.
"But the punishment did not fit the crime; they scored the penalty, it is 1-0 and you are down to 10 men but we regrouped and changed the shape."
The victory lifted Rovers to within a point of sixth-placed Portsmouth and Hughes added: "It was a key game for us. We had games against Fulham (1-1) and West Ham (2-1 defeat) where we had slipped up and that was disappointing.
"Today it was really important we won and I said beforehand the players had to understand the significance of te game and as a consequence we got a really good performance."
Santa Cruz's first goal came when England goalkeeper Chris Kirkland parried David Bentley's shot up in the air and the Rovers striker pounced inside the six-yard box.
His second was via a similar route, this time the England midfielder crossing from the left to the far post for the Paraguayan to nod in his 14th league goal of the season.
Either side of that King scored his first goal for Wigan since his January transfer from Watford before Roberts, latching on to Santa Cruz's flick on, turned his marker inside out before firing left-footed past Kirkland.
Wigan boss Steve Bruce was bitterly disappointed with the result, especially as it brought to an end a four-match unbeaten run which had garnered eight points.
He felt a contributory factor to the defeat was an injury to Kirkland in the opening minutes, the England goalkeeper falling awkwardly and hurting his back.
"For the standards we have set both individually and collectively we never got started," he said.
"The afternoon was summed up in the first three minutes when Kirky's got injured.
"I think all through the game you could see he was not 100% - if he is 100% fit he saves the first goal for start instead of pushing it out.
"Everything went against us. We got a lifeline with the penalty, sticking that away, and I expected us to kick on.
"We didn't. We had all sorts of problems with their midfield players, particularly Bentley, and I thought Santa Cruz was fantastic up front for them."
The sight of left-back Erik Edman leaving the pitch on a stretcher with a suspected ruptured anterior cruciate ligament just before half-time compounded Wigan's misery.
"I think that affected us badly. With the change we didn't have anyone to balance it out," added Bruce.
"It looks like a ruptured anterior ligament and that will be diagnosed in the next 24 hours and if that is the case he is going to be out since September or October time."
A GUARANTEED PROFIT OF AT LEAST £36.50 ON SOUTHEND v DONCASTER
Did you know that it is possible to win money on Friday evening's League One Play-Off clash between Southend and Doncaster, whatever the result?
The game kicks off at 7.45pm and we can guarantee you a profit of at least £36.50, whatever the result of the match. All you have to do is follow the simple instructions below and then sit back and enjoy the game. At full-time, you will be at least £36.50 better off, whatever the result of the match.
We must point out that if you want to take this bet, you should do it now because if the odds change, then the figures here will be invalidated. If they have changed, let us know and we will rework the bet for you.
You can still do this if you have a Betfair account but your overall profit will be reduced by £25.00 as you won't receive the £25.00 cashback as an existing account holder.
If you are unsure about this bet, you are most welcome to call us on 01642 223229 and we will help you as much as we can.
We're going to lay out a total of £71.00 on the Southend v Doncaster match and we will collect £107.50 if Doncaster win, £107.50 if Southend win and £107.81 if it's a draw. That's a minimum profit of 51%, a much higher interest rate than you will get in any high street bank.
Here's how it's done. Just follow these simple instructions.
1. Open an account with Coral. It is really important that you enter the bonus code of CORALTD when prompted. This is to ensure that you receive your bonus.
Open an account with Betfair. It is really important that you enter the promotional code of BFB425 when prompted. This is to ensure that you receive your bonus.
Place £20.00 on Doncaster at 2.75 (7/4) with Coral.
Coral will now add a £10.00 bonus to your account. Place this on Doncaster as well. You will now have £30.00 riding on Doncaster.
Back the draw with £26.00 at 3.3 (9/4) (or higher if available) with Betfair.
Place £25.00 on Southend at 2.15 (23/20) with Extrabet.
Extrabet match your first bet up to £25 so you will now have £50.00 riding on Southend.
The £25.00 matched bet will not show in your account but you can read all about how it works on the Extrabet site. It's the purple box that says '£25 FREE BET FOR NEW CUSTOMERS' on the top right hand side. Click here to visit the Extrabet site.
If you are unsure about placing these bets, please feel free to mail us or call us on 01642 223229 and we will talk you through it, no problem at all. There is no such thing as a stupid question.
You have temporarily laid out a total of £71.00 on the Southend v Doncaster match. I stress, temporarily... Now sit back, crack a beer open and enjoy the match.
4. Here's what happens at the end of the game.
If Doncaster win, you collect £107.50. That's £82.50 from Coral plus a £25.00 cashback from Betfair.
If it's a draw, you collect £107.81. That's £82.81 from Betfair plus a £25.00 cashback from Betfair.
If Southend win you collect £107.50. That's £82.50 from Extrabet plus a £25.00 cashback from Betfair.
5. This means that the worst case scenario on the Southend v Doncaster match is no draw and you make £36.50 profit. However, if it is a draw you make £36.81. That's a minimum profit of 51%, a much better rate of interest that you would get at any high street bank or building society.
6. It is absolutely vital that you click on the links on this page to open the accounts with the two bookies and enter the correct bonus codes or you may not qualify for the bonuses.
Also, before you place your bets, you should check that the odds haven't changed. If they have, let us know by mail or phone us on 01642 223229 and we will rework the bet for you.
Please feel free to contact us or phone us on 01642 223229 if you have any questions at all about this bet and we will help you as much as we can.
Please note that the bonuses are valid for new customers only so if you already have an account with one or more of the bookies we are using, you won't be able to do this. If that is the case, mail us or phone us on 01642 223229 and we'll create an alternative bet for you using different bookies.
This method of betting was used very successfully during the 2006 World Cup and you can read all about how it was done right here.
We guarantee this bet
It's understandable that some people will not believe that it is possible to do this. "What's the catch?" I hear you asking. My answer to that question is that we have been publishing arbitrage bets for four seasons now and literally hundreds of people have profited from following the advice on these pages.
Only twice has our refund guarantee been triggered and that was when we did all the figures wrong and sent refunds out to those who had followed our advice and made a small loss.
Our refund guarantee works like this. If this bet doesn't work like we say it will and you end up out of pocket, we will refund your losses. Simple as that.
That means that you simply cannot lose on this, whatever happens and even if we messed up the numbers.
The only stipulation here is that you must click on the links on this page to be eligible for the refund guarantee, not that you'll be needing to claim anyway. Just enjoy the profit and stay posted for many more of these throughout the season.
