IT'S not been a bad old week, has it?

Seventh in the table, a win at Birmingham, Ciccio's last-gasp heroics against Liverpool last night, and news that Damien Duff and David Thompson have put pen to paper on new contracts with the club -- it's no wonder there's a wave of excitement currently lapping around Ewood!

Saturday's game at St Andrews was hardly a classic but the most important thing is we came away with a result which did our confidence the world of good after last week's false start against Sunderland.

Then came last night's clash with the Reds and, although we left it late, I don't think anyone could argue that we didn't deserve a point over the 90 minutes.

I was chuffed to bits to see Ciccio get off the mark because he came in for some stick off the critics after a difficult first season in English football.

Hopefully, he can now put all those memories behind him because I know from experience there's nothing quite like scoring a goal to give your confidence that vital shot in the arm it sometimes needs.

From a personal point of view, it was also nice to open my own account in the first half and hopefully that will boost my chances of making the England squad for next month's friendly against Portugal at Villa Park.

I must admit it came as a bit of a surprise to be put on stand-by in the summer because I didn't think I played too well towards the end of the season.

It was more down to David Platt because he said I'd a chance of going, so I was grateful to him for putting my name in the frame.

But this season I've come back fitter, I feel good and let's hope I can somehow force my way in.

Hopefully, I will get a chance somewhere down the line.

As I've said before, it would be a dream come true if I could get in the squad and win a cap, but I've got to get my head down and keep my form going for Blackburn. So, at the minute, I'm just concentrating on doing my best for the club because I realise that the European Championships are still two years away which is a long time in a footballer's career.

Having said that I'm still a young player at 22 and I've a long way to go and a lot to learn, so hopefully I can keep improving and earn my chance.

Working alongside the likes of Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke should certainly help my game because they know exactly what it takes to play at the very highest level.

When I broke into the first team at Blackburn I played against them towards the end of that season and I remember looking back and thinking what a good partnership they had.

So it's great that they are now back in harness with us.

I can definitely see Dwight and Andy forging the kind of partnership they had at Manchester United.

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