PAUL INCE knows from his time as a top player that it does not take much for football clubs to make a crisis out of a molehill, though even he could not have expected to hear the word after just four games. But he overcame his first real test as Blackburn manager by posting win number one at home in the Premier League and equally importantly, after his side had conceded four goals in each of their last two league games, saw them keep a clean sheet, something they had not managed to achieve this season.

No team had won at Ewood Park all year until Arsenal arrived last week. But the ferocity of that 4-0 thrashing caused Rovers to put a picture of anguished looking centre-half Ryan Nelsen on the front cover of their programme, above a headline reading “Case for defence!’ It was not clear, however, whether Nelsen’s haunted look was through seeing all those goals fly past him or the fact that he had just returned from his native New Zealand after playing in two World Cup qualifiers, which entailed 60 hours of flying and another 20 twiddling his thumbs in airports.

Managers live and die by results, while their reputation grows or recedes on the basis of their ability to think on their feet in matches, making the right substitutions at the right moment. So Ince will feel an extra rosy glow from the fact that the late winning goal was fashioned by an exquisite pass from one of his substitutes and finished by Matt Derbyshire, who had been on the field only 10 minutes.

Ince, after claiming that his mission statement was to turn Blackburn into entertainers, admitted that he had spent the week working on his defence and looking for solutions. But his side still needed two world-class saves by much ridiculed former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson from much ridiculed former England striker Andy Johnson to keep them on the straight and narrow.

Now there are TWO ways to feed your fantasy

We have built on last year's success of PlayTheGame by offering fantasy football managers double the fun this coming season

Multimedia

• Chelsea: On-the-job training

• Man United: You've been merked, Capello

• Reading: Is Lita's yesterday's man?

Multimedia

• Premier League highlights

• Ahead of the game e-mail: wit and wisdom delivered direct to your inbox

Multimedia

• TheGame: debate, analysis, comment and columnists

• Fanzine fanzone: have your say

Related Links

• Adebayor moves up to top gear

• Zamora’s magic carries Fulham through

• Timid Bolton wake up too late

Ince said: “I felt sorry for Paul because none of those eight goals were down to him. The first save was unbelievable and if he hadn’t made it, heads might have gone down. I said when I signed him that he was still the best goalkeeper in this league and he proved it today. Was he down after letting in eight in two games? It didn’t look like it, did it?” That save came in the opening minutes, with Fulham still showing a spring in their step after three wins in a row. Simon Davies found space for himself on the right wing and squared the ball to Johnson, whose shot appeared goalbound until Robinson somehow got a hand on it to clear the danger.

Jimmy Bullard, who only returned from a serious injury towards the end of last season, must have heard ambulance sirens in his ears again when he was subjected to two bad tackles in succession from Brett Emerton and Keith Andrews, both of which brought yellow cards. But Bullard carried on after a squirt of painkiller from the physio.

In the final weeks of last season, before Fulham launched their improbable run to safety, their manager Roy Hodgson appeared a crumpled, tearful figure after games, as he contemplated relegation and the sack. Now, even in defeat, he is almost as jaunty as Harry Redknapp, saying: “I thought we gave a good account of ourselves but goals decide games and they were the ones who got it. You can’t really feel too badly about that.” Anyway, his side are still two points ahead of Manchester United, owner Mohamed Al-Fayed having once said that he wanted to make Fulham the United of the south.

Robbie Fowler, who signed for Rovers nine days ago and bizarrely, was spotted signing autographs for Liverpool fans outside Ewood Park before kick-off, must have been expecting a first run-out as his team struggled for a breakthrough. But after 65 minutes, it was Chilean forward Carlos Villanueva who answered the cavalry call.

Villenueva, has an identical striking record to Fowler’s on 0.42 goals a game, having scored 49 goals in 99 games for Audax Italiano, who have loaned him to Rovers with a view to a permanent sale. Having taken only 18 minutes to score against Grimsby on his debut in the Carling Cup, he quickly lifted spirits on his first Premier League appearance with an inviting ball into the box, followed by a first-time left-footed shot which ended up among the Fulham fans behind the goal.

A man whose record suggests he rarely leaves the opposition’s box then dropped back to deliver the sort of chip he normally loves to be on the receiving end of, Roque Santa Cruz heading it down and Derbyshire delivering the three points.

Having worked on keeping the back door closed, Blackburn had struggled to unlock Fulham’s, their only notable effort before the goal coming in the first half, when Emerton wriggled his way into the area and struck the far post with a curling shot. Yet they would have gone behind on the hour but for another remarkable save by Robinson from Johnson. As the ball bounced loose, remarkably it was Ryan ‘air miles’ Nelsen who found the energy and swiftness to complete the clearance.

Star man: Keith Andrews (Blackburn)

Referee: L Probert

Attendance: 19,398

BLACKBURN: Robinson 7, Simpson 6, Samba 6, Nelsen 6, Warnock 7, Pedersen 6 (Tugay 60min), Emerton 7, Andrews 8, Treacy 7 (Derbyshire 75min), Santa Cruz 6, Roberts 5 (Villanueva 65min)

FULHAM: Schwarzer 6, Pantsil 6, Hangeland 6, Hughes 6, Konchesky 7, Davies 6, Bullard 6, Murphy 6, Gera 5, Johnson 6, Zamora 5