Bargain buy Cruz wins it for Hughes as Rovers see off Pompey

The Paraguay striker's 21st goal of the season for Blackburn was enough to see off a misfiring Portsmouth and keep alive hopes of a place in next season's InterToto Cup.

Pre-match Hughes had conceded: "For the amount I paid for him, it is my best deal."

Scroll down for more

Another goal from the bargain £3.3million capture from Bayern Munich was enough to earn him a comparison with Liverpool's 30-goal Fernando Torres.

"You look at the big signings by each club at the beginning of the season and obviously Torres springs immediately to mind," said Hughes. "But if you're paying £25m you expect a player of that quality. Roque has come in for just over £3m, so arguably pound for pound he's the better player.

"We get speculation about our players this time of year every season. But if you look at our record regarding the players we allow to go you can see we're not a selling club. We don't have to sell players if we don't have to."

Hughes had opted for some end-of-season experimentation with his top scorer - shifting him out to the right wing while the position's usual incumbent, David Bentley, was chosen to operate behind Jason Roberts.

With Portsmouth's David James ruled out by a calf strain picked up in last week's defeat by Manchester City, Jamie Ashdown was given a rare outing in goal.

He could not have wished for an easier return to top-flight action after an absence of more than two years as Blackburn struggled in their unfamiliar formation. A solitary Roberts shot was all he had to contend with in the opening period.

The first half produced precious little, even though Jermain Defoe was unlucky to have an effort wrongly ruled out for offside 10 minutes before half-time.

As the break approached, Defoe did at least provide two strikes for the home fans to cheer, the first sneaking past the right-hand post and the second past the left.

Hughes switched to a 4-3-2-1 for the second period in an attempt to get more out of Santa Cruz and Bentley while Harry Redknapp brought on Niko Kranjcar for John Utaka after the Nigerian picked up an ankle knock.

Ten minutes into the half and the Blackburn boss finally opted for a tried and tested 4-4-2. The benefit was almost immediate when Ryan Nelsen's header from Bentley's chipped cross needed a fine reflex save from Ashdown.

Shame then that Ashdown was partly at fault for Blackburn's winner, punching when catching seemed the better option. Even so, the visitors still had plenty to do when the stand-in keeper's poor clearance landed at the feet of Morten Gamst Pedersen.

His first-time pass found Santa Cruz, who played a neat one-two with Roberts before dispatching a typically cool finish with just over 15 minutes remaining.

Discussing the switch, Hughes insisted: "It was always in my mind to push Roque to a higher position.

"We're delighted with the win and we still have ambitions of getting into Europe. It's going to be difficult and the key to our ambitions was three points today."

There was time enough left for Defoe to blast an effort over, having earlier been booked for kicking the ball away after an offside decision went against him. But it was not until deep in stoppage-time that Brad Friedel was called into meaningful action, tipping over Lassana Diarra's header from a Kranjcar free-kick.

The defeat also brought an end to an emotional week for Redknapp, who admitted the death of his sister-in-law - Frank Lampard's mother Pat - had left his wife Sandra distraught at the loss of her twin sister.

"We've just got on with it, although it's not easy, my wife is in bits," said a downcast Redknapp, not in the mood to celebrate his 200th game in charge of Portsmouth.

The defeat made it back-to-back reverses for Portsmouth for the first time in four months but, with Everton drawing yesterday, they can still reach Europe via their League placing.

And while insisting the FA Cup Final date with Cardiff has not been a distraction, Redknapp admitted he will not have too many complaints if their next win comes at Wembley.

"Until last week we'd been in as good a form as anyone," he said. "I think the only time we've mentioned the Cup Final was when the bloke came down to measure us for our suits."

PORTSMOUTH (4-4-2): Ashdown 6; Johnson 6, Campbell 6, Distin 6, Lauren 5; Utaka 5 (Kranjcar 46min, 6), Diarra 8, Diop 6, Muntari 6 (Baros 78); Kanu 5, Defoe 7. Booked: Defoe, Campbell

BLACKBURN ROVERS (4-4-1-1): Friedel 6; Reid 5, Samba 6 (Ooijer 87), Nelsen 6, Warnock 6; Santa Cruz 7, Emerton 6, Vogel 6, Pedersen 6; Bentley 6; Roberts 7 (Dunn 93). Booked: Reid, Warnock.

Man of the Match: Lassana Diarra.

Referee: Mike Riley.