BLACKBURN boss Graeme Souness has recalled Alan Mahon to help bolster his midfield resources over the Christmas period.

The Republic of Ireland international has returned to Ewood two weeks earlier than expected after his loan spell with Ipswich was prematurely cut short.

And Souness today confirmed the former Sporting Lisbon star will go straight into his squad for Rovers' Boxing Day clash with Middlesbrough.

"We need all the players we can lay our hands on at this moment in time," said Souness.

"We took the decision to recall him early but there's no problem between me and Joe Royle about that.

"He understands the situation and realises that we've got to look after our own.

"Alan will go straight into the squad for our games against Middlesbrough and Newcastle and he will feature at some point."

Souness has been struggling to fill the void on the left hand side of midfield all season.

No less than six players have been tried there since Damien Duff departed for Chelsea in the summer.

However, none have managed to convince Souness that they could offer a permanent solution to a problem which has become increasingly apparent in recent weeks.

Now Mahon looks set to be the latest to be given his chance and the one big advantage he has over the rest of his team-mates is it's his natural position.

"I've spoken to Joe Royle a few times about Alan and he said he's done well there," said Souness.

"The left side has been a problem to us. We started the season, obviously, without Damien but we felt that Thommo could do a job there, we felt that Steven Reid could do a job there, and Brett Emerton as well.

"So we thought we had three wide players for two positions but all three of them have not handled it that well.

"Losing Thommo was a blow because he was the one we felt could do a better job there than the other two but he then got his injury and that hurt us."

Royle was disappointed to lose Mahon earlier but he understood that Souness had little choice in the circumstances, especially at a time in the season when the games come thick and fast.

In the meantime, Souness has revealed he has no plans to cancel Christmas despite being angered by Rovers' performance against Aston Villa.

Souness was seething after seeing his side crash 2-0 to Villa with barely a whimper on Saturday and he will be hauling the players in for training as usual tomorrow ahead of the Middlesbrough game.