Ince first became aware of Andrews' qualities during the latter days of his playing career at Wolves and then worked with him when manager of MK Dons last season.

He always felt Andrews had the quality to play at the highest level and had no hesitation in taking him to Ewood Park in a £1.3million deal in August.

And Andrews went some way to repaying that faith with a late equaliser during Saturday's 2-2 draw with West Brom at The Hawthorns.

Ince said: "I played with Keith at Wolves. He couldn't get in the side because I was playing but he is a fantastic player.

"He went through a bad time when he was 21, 22. I think he was misguided, misled. His attitude has always been spot on but he needed some guidance and I think, when I went to MK Dons, he got that.

"When I went there he was going to leave but I forced him to stay. By then he was really serious about his football and his talent is second to none for what we paid for him.

"It shows that you can go and buy quality players down the leagues. Keith is much better than that lower league anyway, hence why I brought him to Blackburn."

Ince added: "Some people tried to question it when I signed him for Blackburn. Some people were saying 'Is it an old pals act?' after working with him before.

"It wasn't that. You've seen what a quality player he is. You saw that against Aston Villa in midweek when he was man of the match.

"Those midfield players who get forward and score goals, you don't get them 10 to a penny.

"He had a couple of chances against Villa, a couple of shots against West Brom and it was great for him to finally score because he was a fantastic player.

"He got 14 goals last season. I don't care what league it is, if you get 14 goals as a midfielder you've got a knack for doing that and he will score a lot more goals for Blackburn."

Ince was livid at the sending off of striker Benni McCarthy for two bookable offences after he had fired Rovers ahead from the penalty spot, and West Brom manager Tony Mowbray was also unhappy with the performance of referee Mike Jones.

Ince added: "The sending off just ruins the game. After the early penalty for us, the referee gave West Brom everything. Whether he felt he made a bad decision, I don't know.

"The tackle from Benni for the first booking, there was no malice in it. He has gone for the ball. It's his first tackle, his first foul and the ref books him.

"For the second one, the ball has hit the top of his shoulder. He is not gaining an advantage, he is not stopping the opposition from scoring a goal. The referee couldn't wait to get the card out of his pocket."

Mowbray backed Ince's stance on the red card and hit out at Jones for awarding Rovers the kind of penalty he believes would mean games ending with cricket scores if they were given on every occasion - a faint tug by Ryan Donk at the shirt of Jason Roberts.

He said: "The bottom line is this is Premier League football and people pay good money to see it and they just want to see a bit of consistency from referees. I thought there were some strange decisions.

"A foul is a foul, a sending off is a sending off when it hits you right in the face, but not when refs are trying to be clever for their own good.

"If you give penalties for what the referee here gave penalties in this game, it could end 5-5, 6-6, 7-7 every single week. I think it was a ridiculous decision."