NEIL Danns is a man on a mission as he prepares to head back to Ewood Park for the first time since quitting Blackburn Rovers for Colchester United earlier in the season.
The 22-year-old midfielder, who graduated from Rovers' Academy, has set his heart on masterminding a famous upset at the expense of his former employers when the two sides meet in the fourth round of the FA Cup tomorrow.
Danns feels he was never given a proper chance to prove himself in the first team at Blackburn so he's desperate to prove a few points to Rovers boss Mark Hughes this weekend by inspiring the U's to one of the most famous victories in their history.
"If I'm being honest then I've got to say I didn't get the chance to fully show what I could do at Blackburn," said Danns, who made only four starts in his Blackburn career.
"I was given a chance now and again in the first team and every time I played, I felt as though I did well.
"Every game I started, I think we went on to win but I never got a proper run in the team, which was disappointing.
"When you're only coming in for the odd game here and there it's difficult to do yourself justice because you're nervous.
"What you need is a decent run in the side because that's when you're confidence grows but I never got that at Blackburn so the fans never saw the best of me."
When Danns first established himself as one of the stars of Rovers' youth team, he was expected to go onto bigger and better things with the first team.
But unlike his close friend Jonathon Douglas, who got an extended run in the first team under Graeme Souness during the second half of last season, Danns never got the same opportunties, despite regularly impressing for the reserve team.
"I've got to say fair play to Dougie because I thought he did brilliantly when he got his chance last season," said Danns.
"But, given the same chance, I think I could have proved myself good enough to play at that level, too.
"I've always done well wherever I've been out on loan in the past and particularly when I've played against Premiership clubs.
"I scored for Colchester against Southampton earlier in the season and I was in the team when we knocked West Brom out of the Carling Cup.
"Before that, I was also at Blackpool when they beat Birmingham last season, so I've got experience of playing against Premiership teams."
In total, Danns had three spells on loan during his Blackburn career - at Hartlepool, Colchester and Blackpool.
But although he enjoyed considerable success during those sabaticals in the lower leagues, it did little to enhance his chances of making the breakthrough at Ewood.
It was no surprise then that he decided to sign for Colchester permanently when they came calling in December.
"It wasn't a tough decision to leave Blackburn in the end because I wasn't really figuring in Mark Hughes' plans," said Danns.
"The club changed managers whilst I was out on loan at Colchester earlier in the season and when I came back, I think Mark had already made his mind up about me, which was disappointing because he hadn't given me a fair crack of the whip.
"I thought I'd done well at Colchester but I suddenly found myself stuck in the reserves again and it was then I decided I needed to get out."
By a strange quirk of fate, Danns now finds himself back at Ewood, barely a month after rubber-stamping his move to Layer Road.
When the draw for the FA Cup fourth round was being made, he had a feeling his past and present employers would be paired together and they promptly were.
"It was inevitable," said the Scouser.
"As soon as Blackburn or Cardiff came out of the hat, I knew we'd get them."
So do the Us have a realistic chance of pulling off an upset against their Premier League opponents, or are they on a hiding to nothing?
"We know we will start the tie as underdogs because Blackburn have got some very good players," said Danns.
"But we're just looking forward to the whole experience. This is the FA Cup and upsets do happen so who knows?
"All we can do is go out and try our best and hope that's good enough."
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