Rovers went into the match in the relegation zone and after 90 seconds they were already behind to a Clint Dempsey goal caused by some atrocious defending from Ryan Nelsen and Christopher Samba.

But an equaliser from El-Hadji Diouf, who appeared to be in an offside position moments before he tapped home Samba's headed pass, and Jason Roberts' winner five minutes from time saw them jump to 15th.

Allardyce believes that leap can help the players shed some of the negative feeling that comes with being in the drop zone.

"It's a huge relief from a mental point of view," he said.

"Continuing to see yourselves in the bottom three doesn't help, even though you tell them, 'You can't look at the papers, stay away from them'.

"It's impossible not to see it, not to see where you are, it's in your face all the time. People are talking about relegation all the time when you're in that position.

"So we're relieved to be out of that position for a bit. Relegation is not something we're out of but victory today has made life much easier to get out of it.

"Now they can look at the papers tomorrow if they want to!"

Allardyce also described the result as the best of his time at the club.

Rovers have lost just twice in their last 11 outings under the former Bolton boss, but this victory has been their most impressive result according to Allardyce.

"Since I've been here it is absolutely (the best win)," he said.

"You have to make sure you make your games in hand pay, this was our spare game.

"We've secured a very important victory, our second away win on the trot, which shows us the team are in very good form.

"We showed our commitment, our fitness and then our quality to make sure we got this very important victory.

"Diouf got us back in the game with his goal and then Jason Roberts scored a great goal to win it for us.

"In between that we've had Mark Schwarzer pulling off some great saves, which in the end showed we might have won it even more comfortably."

Fulham boss Roy Hodgson was magnanimous in defeat, crediting his former club with a deserved victory.

"I've got to say I thought Blackburn played with a lot of energy. We were struggling to match that energy," said Hodgson.

"There have been a lot of games for us recently and players are beginning to look tired.

"They've played the long-ball game very well and forced us back.

"I can't say they didn't deserve to win the game, I can't say that we did enough to win it. We lacked a bit of energy but the lads put up a brave performance.

"We simply met a Blackburn team with more energy than us, more strength than us and as a result they were able to get the three points which were so vital for them. We'll just have to wait for ours."