Jewell's the man to lead Derby revival, says Blackburn striker Roberts

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There was agreement from their latest conquerors, as Blackburn striker Jason Roberts backed his old manager Paul Jewell to become a winner again.

It's an experience Jewell has not enjoyed since taking charge of the strugglers in November. The record under him is played 26, won none, drawn seven, lost 19.

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Star man: Roque Santa Cruz shows off his Player of the Year trophy

Roberts played his part in the home recovery that made sure Jewell would not break his duck.

Derby led through Kenny Miller after 19 minutes and controlled most of the first half — mainly through Robbie Savage, who made a nonsense of the pre-match claim of former team-mate Benni McCarthy that technically he's the worst player he has ever seen.

But mistakes by goalkeeper Roy Carroll and former Blackburn defender Andy Todd gave Roque Santa Cruz and Roberts the chances to turn it around.

And the 23rd goal of the season for Paraguayan Santa Cruz after 77 minutes finally forced the visitors and their noisy fans into abandoning all hope of even equalling the Sunderland low of 15 points set two years ago.

Even if they win at home against Reading in the final game on Sunday, they can only muster 14 points.

Roberts played under Jewell when he worked his wonders at Wigan and has no doubts.

"He is the man to get Derby back up," he said. "He's a top-class manager and he'll play a big role in getting them promotion next year. He's done it before and we all know what he's capable of. He'll have no problems rallying them round."

Blackburn still have an outside chance of making Europe through the InterToto Cup and Roberts is keen to continue his partnership with Santa Cruz.

"He's been magnificent," said Roberts. "His first season in the Premier League has been fantastic."

The 33-year-old Savage, booed by Derby fans soon after his £1.5million move from Blackburn in January, is now winning them over and he cannot wait to start pre-season training on June 27.

He summed up the mood of his team-mates and Jewell when he said: "We go down as the worst team in Premier League history and there's nothing we can do about that now. We've just got to look forward to next season."