GRAEME Souness today leapt to the defence of Garry Flitcroft after the Rovers skipper was accused of elbowing Chelsea midfielder Manu Petit in the face.

Flitcroft and Petit clashed during the second half of Saturday's thrilling 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge.

The angry Frenchman later claimed his rival had deliberately tried to hurt him -- a view shared by Blues boss Claudio Ranieri.

However, Souness is standing by Flitcroft and insists his captain is no thug.

"There isn't a more honest midfield player in the country than Garry Flitcroft," said Souness.

"He's someone who always gives you 100 per cent. Yes, he's robust and, yes, he's aggressive.

"But he's fair and he doesn't deliberately go out to try and hurt anyone."

The second half flash-point sparked a brief touchline confrontation between Souness and Ranieri.

And the Chelsea boss later made his feelings clear about how he saw the incident.

"Everybody knows Flitcroft," said the Italian. "He did the same to Trevor Sinclair of Manchester City on Monday.

"Petit was very angry. It was a crash between them and, with Flitcroft, sometimes that's not good.

"Manu said Flitcroft had elbowed him, although I didn't see it."

Souness did get a clear view of it, however, and insisted Flitcroft was only trying to protect himself.

"I didn't see any intent in the challenge. Both players met head on and Flitty raised his hand to protect himself because he thought there was going to be a clash of heads."

That incident failed to mar what was an otherwise excellent day for Rovers as they maintained their incredible record of never having lost a Premiership game at Stamford Bridge.

Andy Cole scored both of Rovers' goal and Souness was delighted by his team's performance.

"We worked very, very hard and we showed that we can go anywhere and get a result," said Souness.

"The spotlight was on them given all the money they have spent recently but we showed that we have some good players, too.

"Markus Babbel, in particular, was outstanding on his debut and he played as if he has been in the team for the last three years."

Blackburn defender Gordon Greer has joined Kilmarnock on a free.

The 22-year-old signed a three-year contract with the Scottish club over the weekend after negotiating an early release from Ewood Park.