EWOOD enforcer Garry Flitcroft called on Sven Goran Eriksson to give David Thompson his England bow after the midfield dynamo played a starring role in Rovers' 1-0 triumph over Leeds.

Thompson took the opportunity to shine in front of the watching Eriksson as Rovers beat a top-six team for the first time since they returned to the Premiership 14 months ago.

And Flitcroft has joined his manager Graeme Souness in leading the calls for the former Coventry City man to be called up to the full international squad after making an astonishing impact at his new club in the three weeks since his £1.5 million move from Highfield Road.

"Tommo's a great lad to have in the dressing room," said Flitcroft, who scored the all-important goal yesterday.

"He works his socks off, he's got a great strike, and we've all got a lot of respect for him because he has such a good work-rate.

"He's been to the best school there is in Liverpool and he's been a great buy for us so far so, fingers crossed, he'll keep doing it for us.

"As far as England is concerned, he can only keep playing well for the club.

"He's been outstanding since he came to us so he may well get his chance.

"But he's got to keep his head down and keep going."

Those thoughts were also echoed by Souness who was gushing in his praise of the 25-year-old after he had watched him tease and torment the Leeds defence.

"I've worked with him for two and a half weeks now and he should be playing for the England national team," said Souness.

"Long term, I see him as a centre midfielder but we are just delighted we've got him because he's a great guy to have around the place."

In the meantime, Flitcroft was delighted with yesterday's result as Rovers won at home for the first time this season.

After last week's set-back against Manchester City, Rovers needed a quick pick-me-up to prevent them from getting sucked into a dog-fight at the wrong end of the table.

And Souness's injury-hit squad responded with a real show of character against a team who are widely tipped as possible title contenders.

"This was a massive game for us but we got all three points which was a great relief," said Flitcroft.

"Probably at the beginning of the game, we would have been happy with a point considering the quality they have.

"But the lads battled away, we defended well and attacked well when we did get forward and we fully deserved the result in the end.

"To be honest, the confidence has never left us because we know we've been playing well.

"The gaffer pulled us in last week after the result against Chelsea and just said he needed his big name players to come good for him and, as a team, you battle through these periods that we were having.

"The lads respect that. It was only a five minute chat but he's a man you listen to and we then go out training and he makes it fun again so the confidence never leaves you.

"It's a good squad we have here and we'll keep grinding results out.

"Hopefully, this is a stepping stone to go onto good things now we've moved up the table a little bit."

ROVERS' two Academy teams completed an excellent weekend for the club by storming to the top of their respective divisions on the back of two superb wins.

Rob Kelly's Under 19s triumphed 5-1 at home to Sheffield United while Ian Miller's Under 17s won 1-0 at Sheffield Wednesday.