CRYSTAL Palace winger Julian Gray last night begged Graeme Souness to sign him up permanently after he scored an eye-catching goal for Rovers' reserves.

Gray seized the chance to impress when he contributed two assists and netted a superb solo effort in the second string's 5-3 win over West Brom.

Now he hopes he has done enough to win himself a contract with Rovers following a 10-day trial at the club.

Souness has promised to give the player a decision in the next 24 hours but it remains to be seen whether or not he has convinced the Rovers boss to add him to his star-studded squad.

"I just tried to do my best and it helps when you get on the score-sheet because you can take some confidence from that," said Gray.

"It's up to the manager and coaching staff now to decide whether I've impressed them enough to give me a contract.

"If I had a choice then I'd like to join Blackburn because this is a great club.

"The last 10 days have been really good, I've really enjoyed myself, all the lads and the manager have really made me feel welcome, and I'd like to stay here.

"So, hopefully, by the end of the week, I'll find out some more information about the situation.

"I just tried to do the best I could. I haven't played for six weeks so it's very difficult because I need some matches to get my match fitness.

"But hopefully I did enough."

Rovers were given special permission by Palace to play Gray in last night's game so they could take a look at him in competitive action.

Souness wasn't at Morecambe's Christie Park in person to run the rule over the 23-year-old but reserve boss Alan Murray was due to report back to the manager today.

Meanwhile, Lucas Neill has vowed not to let the row over last weekend's challenge on Jamie Carragher affect his committed style of play in the future.

Liverpool will be without Carragher for at least six months after the England international suffered a broken leg as a result of Neill's two-footed lunge

However, Neill insists there was no malice in his tackle and that he will never flinch away from any 50-50 battles on the field of play.

The Australian said: "I just hope that I'm not considered the bad boy of football, because there's no way I'm a bad boy.

"They're trying to drag my name through the mud a little bit, but if there's another 50-50 situation, I'm going to go in and I'm going to go in committed and hard."

In the meantime, Souness insists he will be looking for an apology from Gerard Houllier the next time he sees the Frenchman.

Souness said: "I saw Gerard Houllier after the game. He grabbed me from behind and squeezed my hips in a friendly gesture - so I can't understand where his anger's come from.

"The first I knew about Jamie Carragher breaking his leg was at 5pm on Sunday when I turned my mobile on.

"I did an interview as soon as I could on Monday morning - but some of the drivel that's come out since has astonished me.

"How could I possibly have any dislike for Liverpool? As a player some of the best memories I've had in football came at Liverpool.

"I'll be looking for an apology from him because I think I've been treated unfairly by him."

"I thought we were going to give them a beating and maybe score 10 but it doesn't always go like that in football."