BLACKBURN Rovers midfielder David Thompson has called on Mark Hughes to give him a central role in the club's fight for survival.

Thompson sparkled when he came on in the centre of midfield during Sunday's epic 3-3 draw with Birmingham, turning the game in Rovers' favour by creating goals for Steven Reid and Paul Gallagher which capped a storming second half fight-back.

Now the 27-year-old hopes he can stay in that position long-term, rather than revert back to the wide midfield role he has tended to fill for the vast majority of his Rovers career.

"If the manager wants me to play wide on the right, or right back or left back for that matter, then I'll do a job for the team," said Thompson, who is now back to full fitness after a series of injuries.

"But in all honesty it's in the centre where I want to play.

"Playing there gives me a chance to get involved in the play a lot more.

"Sometimes when you're stuck on the wing it can get a bit lonely out there.

"Some days you might as well stick a flag in my hand because you can feel like a linesman, so I was really pleased that I came on in a central role on Sunday.

"That's the position I enjoy playing in and it's the position I've grown up in.

"But I'm just enjoying playing again, to be honest, and when you've been out injured for two years, you'll play anywhere."

Thompson actually started life as a central midfielder during the early days of his Liverpool career but when Gerard Houllier arrived at Anfield he often preferred to play him out on the right and that's where he's spent the majority of his time ever since.

However, the player himself believes he would be more effective in the centre where he can have a greater influence on proceedings.

"I very rarely played in the centre for Coventry but before Gerard Houllier came to Liverpool, that was my position," said Thompson.

"The thing was we had some top stars at Liverpool so I ended up playing on the right and did quite well so I then got stereo-typed (as a wide midfield player) and ended up staying there."

In the meantime, Thompson now hopes his performance on Sunday may tempt Hughes to throw him in from the start against Fulham at the weekend.

He has now made a complete recovery from the ankle injury that kept him out of the opening three months of the season but he admits to being a little short of match fitness, which is understandable considering he's played just 68 minutes of Premiership football in the last year.

"I feel alright now," said Thompson. "I just need games to get my fitness back because I was running on empty in the last five minutes on Sunday.

"I actually wanted to start against Birmingham but that was probably a bit cheeky of me because I probably wasn't fit enough.

"If I can keep coming on and affecting games, though, then I'll be happy."