SAM Allardyce has warned his relegation-threatened Rovers they have reached the ‘must-win’ stage.

Blackburn Rovers travel to Hull City tomorrow deep in the relegation mire with an increasingly anxious boss admitting the pressure is now on to return with maximum points.

A Premier League run of four games without a win has left them third from bottom in the table, without an away win in the league since September, and Allardyce knows the time has come to turn encouraging performances into results.

He said: “Absolutely it is a must-win game. I was hoping we weren't going to get to this more desperate position but unfortunately we've let too many points slip.

“We’re in a situation where we are a getting a little bit desperate and we’ve got to use that desperation as a positive rather than let it give us a negative feel about the place.

“We’ve got good players and they must give consistent performances with the talent and experience they’ve got from now until the end of the season. That will hopefully be enough to get us out of the trouble w’'re in.

“We have to start winning against teams in and around us. Hull have had a bit of a struggle recently in terms of results. If they’ve got a lack of confidenc,e we’ve got to expose that and use the performance we gave in the second half at Manchester united for a 90-minute period at Hull City.”

Victory at the KC Stadium would offer Rovers a huge top-flight lifeline, as well as dragging the Tigers back into the scrap for survival, with Allardyce insisting there have been signs for optimism.

Missed chances have proved costly for the Ewood Park outfit though, with a string of draws leaving Allardyce frustrated, and he has called for his players to start delivering.

He said: “We've drawn too many, that's the only problem really. From a players' point of view they've probably not realised what a difference the small detail makes.

“The more you get that right, the more you get results. Performances are always important but the bottom line is to turn the performance into a victory, and that's where we've slipped up.

“That small element of ruthlessness, or quality, or determination, has just gone missing. Hence we're very disappointed we haven't got five wins instead of two. We haven't and its a reality where we are.

“The games are ticking by and we have to be a little bit more ruthless and determined to make sure we try and win games very quickly.”

The Rovers predicts it will take near to 40 points to guarantee Premier League status, with his side currently on 23, and is expecting a nervy season finale.

“I saw the beginnings and fears of that pressure on Monday night in Tottenham in particular,” he said. “I've rarely seen a Tottenham team play so poorly.

“There was an air around the stadium that this was a big game for both teams and it had that feel. You can sense, rather than excitement there were a lot of oohs and ahs about who was going to come out on top.

“They are on a bad run and at the end of the day we all like the golden period, but they have had the golden period at the right time.

“Because even now, they are still six points away from us which is an awful lot at this stage of the season.

"If you took the season overall and said would you want to have 29 points after 26 games at the start of the season, he'd have been pretty happy with that.”