SAM Gallagher’s first-half brace earned Rovers their third win of the season in some style at a sodden Ewood Park.

Owen Coyle had urged his struggling side to entertain the fans after the drab goalless draw with Ipswich Town.

And they heeded their manager’s words as on-loan striker Gallagher provided two cool finishes to kill off the contest before the interval.

The goals capped a fine first-half show from Rovers which rewarded the hardy souls who had braved a filthy East Lancashire night.

And even though Damien Perquis grabbed an injury-time consolation, the hosts were full value for the three points.

Coyle made two changes from Saturday’s 0-0 bore draw. Skipper Jason Lowe was back from suspension in place of Martin Samuelsen, with the skipper slotting at right-back and Ben Marshall pushed back up into midfield.

Darragh Lenihan continued in the centre of defence in place of injured Gordon Greer, who he replaced at half-time against the Tractor Boys.

Rovers had the first sight of goal on two minutes when Marshall’s cross found an unmarked Gallagher in the centre, but he had strayed offside.

The striker then headed wide from Craig Conway’s free-kick - but he made no mistake minutes later.

Marshall clipped a beautifully-weighted pass through for Gallagher to cooly slip a shot under the advancing Stojkovic.

Marvin Emnes then evaded Damien Perquis, but the Forest centre-half recovered with a perfect-timed tackle.

Marshall was continuing to look dangerous back in his right-wing berth and he poked a pass across to Conway who fired just over the bar.

Forest had their first effort when Mustapha Carayol surged down the right flank and his low cross found Apostolos Vellios unmarked who screwed his attempt high and wide.

The visitors were forced into a change when David Vaughan went down for treatment and was replaced by Pajtim Kasami.

The stoppage seemed to suit Forest better, although the soaked surface meant both sides struggled to string passes together.

Then Rovers sprang to life again, with first Gallagher curling wide after cutting in from the right and then Emnes driving over from long range.

Forest weren’t without their threat though, and Eric Lichaj shot wide when he found space at the edge of the Rovers area.

Gallagher had looked a threat to a ball over the top, but his second goal came instead from a slick passing move. Danny Guthrie threaded a fine pass through for Corry Evans and the Northern Ireland international’s cutback left his teammate with a simple tap-in.

Vellios should have done better five minutes after the restart when he rose to meet Lichaj’s cross from the left but could only headed straight at Jason Steele.

Derrick Williams found Emnes down the left channel but the striker fired into the side-netting from a tight angle.

Tommie Hoban had a good penalty shout waved away when he got a mighty shove in the back from Perquis following a Conway corner.

Rovers looked hard done by again on 62 minutes when Perquis clipped Gallagher inside the box as the striker set himself to shoot.

Gallagher was inches away from his hat-trick when Marshall fed Conway down the left and his wicked cross just evaded an outstretched leg.

Charlie Mulgrew finally got his home debut in place of the excellent Marshall, before Forest were off target twice with a Matt Mills header and weak Lichaj shot.

Sub Nicolao Dumitru-Cardoso then missed the chance of the night for the visitors when he was slipped in by Vellios but shot across the face of Steele’s goal.

Rovers, who had been in their own half for 10 minutes, responded with Conway weaving his way into the box but he eventually ran into too much traffic.

Perquis pounced after Steele flapped at a long throw-in before Pereira got a second yellow card for bringing down a breaking Conway.

But it was job done by then and those fans who had been entertained filed out into the damp night happy for the first time in a while.