KEVIN Nolan has hit back at claims that Wanderers set out to intimidate Robbie Savage in Saturday's Ewood Park derby.

Blackburn manager, Mark Hughes, praised the volatile midfielder for showing 'discipline and restraint' in the face of provocation, claiming he was the target of a series of first half fouls that were deliberately designed to provoke a reaction.

But Nolan denied that there was any plan to get Savage.

"I don't think anybody kicked Robbie Savage," the Wanderers captain said after the scoreless draw.

"I think he kicked a few of us though.

"To be honest, Robbie's a great lad. A lot of people see him in the wrong light.

"He's a nice lad to play against, but he'll do the wrong things at the wrong times.

"He's no angel but we didn't target him at all.

"Mark Hughes is obviously just trying to defend Robbie Savage because of what's gone on in the papers."

Savage launched a passionate defence of his character and conduct after Saturday's scoreless draw, claiming he had been the victim of "three days of ridicule" in the media following his involvement in the widely publicised bust up with Manchester United's Alan Smith and Wayne Rooney in last Wednesday's Carling Cup semi-final first leg.

He insisted he had not feigned injury by holding his face after being felled by Smith, and he responded angrily to comments Wanderers' midfielder Stelios made in the build-up, when he accused the former Wales international of playing as though he was trying 'to smash the other guy's legs'.

"I was holding my face because I was in pain with my ankle," he said.

"But, for the next three days people have been having a go at me.

"Then one of their players (Stelios) says that I go round trying to hurt the opposition.

"That's totally unjustified. I don't make dirty tackles. That's not my game.

"I play to win tackles. If I changed, I'd be left out of the team."

Nolan paid tribute to Wanderers' resilience to claim a share of the derby spoils, despite being down to 10-men following the 33rd minute dismissal of Hide Nakata for a second bookable offence.

But he countered claims that the game had been over-physical and echoed manager, Sam Allardyce's, criticism of referee Mike Riley.

"It really wasn't as bad as the sending off would suggest," he added.

"There weren't that many bad challenges - maybe Joey's was a little bit late (O'Brien's 39th minute foul on Ryan Nelsen brought one of eight bookings and sparked Rovers' claims that he too should have been red-carded).

"I thought Mike Riley handled that one well but he let himself down with other bad decisions.

"We were annoyed with him at half time because we were down to 10 men and we knew it was going to be tough, anyway, to get a result at Blackburn.

"But we're keeping so many clean sheets this season that we're always going to be tough to break down, whether we've got ten, nine or eight men.

"We've got lads who can stick their heads in or their feet and there was fantastic defending on Saturday - not just from the back four but from the midfield four and Davo (Kevin Davies) up front on his own.

"We were really happy with the point in the end and we deserved it."