A quickfire double from Stephen Warnock and Keith Andrews secured a vital three points for Blackburn Rovers at Hull City this afternoon.

The pair struck within two first-half minutes to settle a tense and eventful Barclays Premier League survival tussle at the KC Stadium.

Ian Ashbee gave Hull late hope in a game which saw the home side's Dean Marney and Blackburn's Morten Gamst Pedersen sent off but Rovers held on.

Hull could have few complaints about Marney's 63rd-minute dismissal for kicking Pedersen between the legs while the Norwegian saw red soon after for a second booking.

Rovers' victory saw manager Sam Allardyce get one over Phil Brown, his former assistant and increase their chances of escaping relegation.

The Lancashire side - allowed into the game by a Matt Duke error - are now just three points behind Hull, whose freefall continued into an 11th game without a win.

There were also questions being asked of Brown by supporters after he controversially took off playmaker Geovanni in the second half.

Blackburn's performance justified Allardyce's decision to change his entire team for the midweek FA Cup loss to Coventry.

He reverted to a familiar line-up but had to play the second half without first-choice goalkeeper Paul Robinson, who was injured in a heavy challenge and was replaced by Jason Brown.

The game got off to a fiery start with Warnock booked with less than a minute on the clock for hacking down Bernard Mendy. Rovers had an early chance when El-Hadji Diouf jumped to head on a bouncing ball but Duke was untroubled.

Michael Turner, with five goals to his name already this season, brought a fine save out of Robinson with a firm header from a Marney free-kick but Mendy had already been given offside.

Blackburn grabbed the lead against the run of play in the 34th minute after Duke failed to gather a deflected Pedersen shot. Roque Santa Cruz quickly nipped in and pulled back for the onrushing Warnock to coolly clip into the top of an unguarded net.

They doubled their lead just a minute later as Warnock raced into the area from a Santa Cruz lay-off and squared for Andrews to turn home.

Turner was booked for a heavy challenge on Robinson just before the interval and the Rovers goalkeeper left the field gingerly at half-time after receiving treatment.

It proved a serious enough injury to prevent him returning and Brown duly took his place.

Brown gave it just seven minutes after the break before making changes, taking off Kevin Kilbane and Geovanni for Daniel Cousin and Nick Barmby. Geovanni shook his head when his number was raised and the crowd voiced their displeasure with a howl of boos.

Hull were then reduced to ten men when Marney was sent off for kicking a prostrate Pedersen after being fouled by the Norwegian, who was also booked.

Hull's fans appealed for a penalty after Turner appeared to be pushed by Samba but Martin Atkinson, at the centre of attention, gave nothing.

Pedersen followed Marney to the dressing room after 70 minutes when he was given his second yellow card for a late tackle on Kamil Zayatte.

Ashbee gave Hull late hope when he blasted a crisp volley past Brown from a Mendy cross with 12 minutes remaining.

Andy Dawson brought a fine save out of Brown with a strong shot in injury time and Turner also shot wide as Hull finished strongly but the game ended in familiar frustration.