I MUST admit that Saturday didn't start well. When I turned the corner into the ground I was faced with a queue the like of which is generally reserved for the visit of Manchester United or Celtic, never mind Middlesbrough.

For one moment I allowed myself to think that maybe the cynical public of Blackburn had decided to come out in force to support their team after all.

It was only when I joined the queue and saw it wasn't moving that I realised that wasn't the case and there was some kind of problem with the electronic turnstile.

Understandably, as 3pm loomed and still no progress was made the natives started to get a little restless.

Surely the club would put the kick-off back five minutes to allow us in?

Then again, surely not.

Apparently they can put kick off times at Darlington back a few minutes when there's crowd congestion but at Premiership Blackburn that's too big an upheaval.

I mean, the system only needs to work 20 odd times a season!

Still, I suppose I should be thankful for small mercies, at least it wasn't lashing down.

And, once inside the ground we were all treated to another home performance that we can be proud of with the shining light once again being Craig Bellamy.

Long gone are the days of being exasperated with the likes of Ashley Ward and Graham Fenton as the Welshman becomes the best striker to wear a Rovers shirt since Alan Shearer.

He came to Ewood with a reputation as being a bit difficult' but the noises coming from within the club suggest anything but.

He may be demanding of his team mates but has he not got the right to expect high standards?

It's not like he's swanning around the pitch like a prima donna either as his craft with the ball is generally accompanied by hard graft when he hasn't.

It's been said countless times but if Bellamy stays fit for the remaining games then anything is possible.

However, commenting on the game cannot pass without a mention of the ludicrous decision to book and then send off Robbie Savage.

Robbie has been exemplary in his timing of challenges over the past few weeks, and it's also accompanied his best form in a Rovers shirt so far.

So for him to unjustly find his way to a yellow card not once but twice must've been gut wrenching for him.

If the first card for the tackle was debatable then the second for handball was downright ridiculous.

How a ball hit at force from five yards makes a deliberate handball is just lunacy and if the same rule was applied down at Stamford Bridge John Terry would've been dismissed about a dozen times already this season.

And when is a deliberate handball not a deliberate handball?

Apparently when the perpetrator is Mark Viduka.

But I won't let a mistakes from a referee dampen what was another great home performance.

We get an important three points and Mr Foy gets to live off the fact he's the only official to send Robbie Savage off in club football.

For that he'll get countless after dinner speaking engagements and at least one chapter dedicated to it in his autobiography.

Everybody's happy.