MORTEN Gamst Pedersen is desperate to put his debut disaster behind him at Old Trafford on Saturday.

The Norwegian missed a sitter in his first game for Blackburn against Manchester United in August when he was still getting used to the pace of the English game.

Pedersen blazed over the bar towards the end of the match and missed the chance to put Rovers 2-0 up before they threw away two points when Alan Smith grabbed a last second equaliser.

However, with six goals in the 17 appearances he has made since, Pedersen's confidence in front of goal will be soaring if he gets a similar opportunity this weekend.

"I've done a lot since that first game but hopefully I can make up for it this time if I get a chance," said Pedersen.

"I remember it was really hard and I was really tired as it was my first game, but that's history. I'm focused on the future now.

"I don't think about that any more and have been over it for a long time.

"I'm looking forward to the rest of the season, especially with Man United and Arsenal coming up. They are big games and nothing is impossible."

Pedersen, who is preparing for Norway's World Cup match in Moldova tonight, only made three more appearances for Blackburn following his debut before being out of the team for almost four months.

He scored for his country in Slovenia in a 3-0 qualifying win in October but then didn't play again until Rovers' FA Cup third round game at Cardiff in January.

But because the Norwegian season runs through the summer, the 23-year-old had almost finished a full campaign for Tromso when he joined Blackburn and he insists those months out of action were just what he needed.

"When I didn't play for three months maybe it was good for me," said Pedersen."I trained and I love to train but I didn't play a game and maybe that was good to get me hungry again.

"I haven't had a holiday for two years so I'm looking forward to that but I'm also looking forward to the pre-season."

And he predicts this will be as a Premiership player, simply because he feels Blackburn have the strength in depth to get the results they need to ensure safety.

"We have good players and we can get players in who can do the job," said Pedersen.

"I feel with the strength we have in the squad if we get yellow cards and suspensions we can put people in.

"So it's a good feeling to know we have good players on the bench because you won't always have your best team."