SAM Allardyce admits he could sense the tension at Ewood Park, accusing media speculation of creating ‘unnecessary pressure’ on his players.

A national newspaper story claimed the Rovers boss only had ‘two games to save his job’ after a nine-match Premier League winless run, but his players responded with a 2-0 win over Fulham.

Allardyce has long rubbished claims of any crisis, pointing to a host of missed chances as reason for Rovers’ slump, but hailed his players for standing tall.

He said: “It’s a massive relief for the players. It’s always been a fine line we’ve run.

“All of a sudden there was a massive turnaround in terms of pressure because one little man writes something about my job not being safe.

"That’s converted into extra pressure on my players that they didn’t need. We never had cause to be over-concerned.

“Somebody decided to exert a bit of pressure and it rings around the whole place. I could feel the tension on the inside of the club.

“It was a magnificent effort by the players. I felt for the players. The pressure made them a bit tense and nervous but it lifted once we got the second goal.”

Benni McCarthy was the architect of Rovers’ victory, creating Chris Samba and Ryan Nelsen’s goals, after Allardyce restored him to the starting line-up in place of David Dunn.

Allardyce though believes he has to be careful with both of Rovers’ playmakers, admitting McCarthy and Dunn both have to protected throughout the season.

He said: “Benni is a delicate situation. He is not getting any younger so choosing the games for Benni is very important for us, as it is with David Dunn.

“If we look back at Dunny, instead of resting him against Stoke we put him out and got him injured. We missed him and one of the reasons we hadn’t won for so long was his inury.

“Benni has hit some good performances but we have to be careful with him as well.”

Rovers travel to Aston Villa in the Carling Cup semi final second leg on Wednesday night, bidding to overturn a 1-0 deficit, with Allardyce calling for more goals from his attacking players.

He said: “Two centre halves have scored for us but we need the creative players and front players to start upping their totals.

“Ryan Nelsen is second leading scorer and we know that is not good enough.

"The pressure is felt by us all. We’re tense and nervous and we have to accept it because we brought it on ourselves.

“It has got to bring the best out of us and we can’t let it put us off our game.

"We never go out and not try and I just keep reverting to how close we have been to winning more games than we have and how close we are to top half of the league.”