Hughes wants same again

Rovers know they can strike a huge psychological blow in the battle for Premiership survival if they beat the Canaries at Carrow Road.

And Hughes is ready to issue a pre-match war-cry by calling on his side to repeat the kind of gritty performance that earned them a point against Liverpool last week.

"It's a very important game for us. It's one where we need to put in a good performance but if we perform like we did against Liverpool last week then I expect us to get something out of the game," said Hughes.

"I thought we were excellent last week. There was plenty of commitment and energy from the players.

"They really went for it and showed no apprehension, which was possibly not the case at Chelsea the week before.

"Now we need to be somewhere near that for the rest of the season because we've got to build on that performance and try and sustain it.

"The players know how hard it is to compete at this level and there's no easy way around it.

"But the bar has been set now and we've got to try and perform to that level all the time."

With all four sides at the bottom of the Premiership in action against each other this weekend, a win in Norfolk would come as a massive boost for Rovers.

So far this season, Rovers have failed to pick up a single point on their travels.

But the prospect of climbing out of the bottom three by defeating Norwich is a massive incentive for Hughes and his players as they begin a run of six games against sides in the bottom half of the table.

"We need points on the board and that just re-enforces it," said Hughes.

"But this is a really good game for us.

"We've just come through a period where we've played some of the stronger sides in the league and now we are about to come up against teams at the weaker end so this is a chance to get some momentum going."

Craig Short is struggling to be fit for tomorrow's game after tweaking a hamstring so Andy Todd could be in line for his start in seven months.

And Dominic Matteo is also an injury doubt with a stiff neck but David Thompson could return on the bench.

BLACKBURN Rovers were today facing up to the prospect of losing Rob Kelly to Leicester City.

As I understand it, the Foxes want Kelly as number two to their new manager Craig Levein.

The Coca-Cola Championship club are believed to have made a formal approach for Kelly yesterday afternoon.

And it looks as though Rovers' highly respected reserve team coach will join Leicester in the next few days if he's given permission to speak to them.

Kelly has a reputation for being one of the brightest young coaches in English football.

He made his name as the coach of Rovers' Youth team and led them to two separate Youth Cup finals during his time at the Academy.

At the beginning of the summer, he was promoted to the reserves, where he currently works alongside Tony Parkes.

But the lure of a first team job at the Walkers Stadium may prove impossible to resist.