Blackburn Rovers came from nowhere last season to qualify for Europe, and after a deserved victory over Bolton Wanderers at the Reebok Stadium yesterday lifted them to within three points of a Uefa Cup place, a repeat may well be on the cards this term. If they could start a Barclays Premiership season as strongly as they finish, Blackburn would probably be challenging for a Champions League berth by now, but it is testament to the talent and tenacity of Mark Hughes’s players that they can emerge from the relegation quagmire to make a credible push for Europe.

Missed penalties from Benni McCarthy and Jason Roberts handed Bolton the reverse fixture at Ewood Park in October, but the former more than made amends. Two second-half penalties took McCarthy’s tally for the season to 18 and delivered a blow to Bolton’s own hopes of European qualification. Having scored the goal that knocked Arsenal out of the FA Cup on Wednesday to earn Blackburn a place in the quarter-finals, it has been some week for the South African.

“I don’t know what happened in the first game [against Bolton] because I normally never go for that corner and it was a very weakly taken penalty, but today I was confident and I said that if any penalties come up, they are mine,” McCarthy said.

Hughes had nothing but praise for his top goalscorer. “He has had a great season,” the manager said. “He has been out of the team recently because I felt he needed a rest, but three goals in a week has been excellent.

“It’s a strange fixture as it just seems to attract penalty decisions, but it takes mental courage to do what Benni did. The value we have got from him is a lot more than the £2.5 million we paid. There’s more to us than just getting stuck in, you don’t get into Europe by being a team that just kicks people.”

Sam Allardyce had no complaints about either penalty after Gary Speed tripped David Bentley and then Abdoulaye Faye mowed down McCarthy ten minutes later, but it was still a little too close for comfort for Blackburn at the end. Moments after Roberts was thwarted one-on-one with the goalkeeper, Nicolas Anelka handed the hosts a lifeline when he latched on to Ricardo Vaz Té’s flick and shot across Brad Friedel. Faye then appeared to have grabbed an undeserved equaliser when he sent a looping header into the corner from Kevin Nolan’s hopeful ball only to be rightly ruled offside. “It looked slightly offside sadly, but it was a shame for such a monstrous header to be ruled out,” Allardyce said.