If last week’s goalless draw against FA Cup finalists Portsmouth felt like a defeat, Sunday’s same scoreline against champion contenders Manchester United seemed more like a victory.

If I’m truthful, I never thought we were likely to score but it says something for our excellent organisation and for Sam’s technical nous that I wasn’t all that worried about United scoring either.

In the absence of their talisman Wayne Rooney, United lacked the spark that might have ignited their game. Apparently when asked in the Premier Suite on being presented with his man of the match award, whether he would prefer to face Dimitar Berbatov or Didier Drogba, the impressive Phil Jones suggested it was no contest. Drogba was by far the more potent force.

It might have been different if our Wayne had been fit. However, Corporal Jones had another great game but, for me, the man of the match was Gael Givet and the moment of the match his committed challenge on Gary Neville.

So certainly no old pals act from Big Sam to Fergie, despite their little get-together at Aintree earlier in the week.

If there is a ‘special relationship’ between the two clubs it wasn’t that evident on the pitch although, if Fergie does want to offload Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes for one last hurrah, we might be able to find a place for them at Ewood.

If Arsenal do manage to creep up on the outside and win the Premier League they should send a letter of gratitude to Rovers for taking points off their two big rivals in recent weeks.

That being said we may end up scuppering their chances in our last home game. Given our impressive home form this season, the Gunners will not relish a trip to Fortress Ewood in what might well be a must win game so far as their championship hopes are concerned.

With another attractive home fixture against Everton next weekend, and that rare luxury of a 3pm Saturday kick-off, the season still promises much.

It’s now mathematically impossible for us to be relegated and we should be aspiring for a 10th place finish which is within our grasp, and would be a fantastic achievement.

It would represent gradual progress since Sam took over. Surely now it’s time for his critics to shut up and recognise what he is achieving here on a very limited budget.

Talking of limited budgets I’m sure I speak for most football fans in stating how delighted I was with Pompey’s victory over Tottenham in the semi final of the FA Cup.

After all that they’ve endured this season, surely no-one would begrudge Portsmouth fans, not even that annoying bell ringer in the tall hat, their final hurrah before they become a Championship side.

It also makes our 0-0 draw last week look a bit better than we thought!