BLACKBURN defender Craig Short is facing a race against time to be fit for the start of the new season after being laid low by a muscle injury.

The veteran centre-back feared he would be out for some time after being struck down by a thigh injury during the club's pre-season tour of Austria and Germany.

However, after a week of intensive treatment with Rovers' medical staff at Brockhall, the former Everton man is now hopeful he could be back in contention for Saturday's Premiership curtain-raiser against Sunderland.

And news of Short's rapid progress will come as a massive boost to manager Graeme Souness who feared his defensive kingpin could be ruled out of the opening weeks of the new campaign after missing the recent friendly wins over Blackpool and Lazio.

"When I first did it I thought I was going to be missing for several weeks," said Short today.

"But I had a scan last week and the news was better so I'm hoping I might have a chance for the weekend.

"If I get through a session today then I'm hoping to resume full training tomorrow, then it will be down to the manager to decide whether or not I'm match fit.

"I've only played one full game so far in pre-season against Nuremberg on tour.

"But if I can get a decent week of training under my belt then you just never know.

"So I'm more hopeful than I was but it's still frustrating because I'd trained quite hard over the summer and to then get injured on the final day of the tour was very disappointing."

However, the news regarding skipper Garry Flitcroft was not quite as positive this morning.

The Ewood enforcer has barely trained over the last couple of weeks after aggravating an old ankle injury during the club's pre-season tour of Austria and Germany.

Now the former Manchester City star looks set to miss the first few weeks of the season as he battles to regain his match fitness after missing the majority of the club's pre-season programme.

And with Matt Jansen and Stig Bjornebye also ruled out for the foreseeable future, it's an extra problem Souness could do without.

However, the Rovers boss still believes he has the personnel at his disposal to cope with his injury worries.

And he has thrown down the gauntlet to the players who will come in as replacements by saying they can cement a regular place in the side if they produce the goods during the injured trio's absence.

"I don't think the game has changed that much since I was a player and I think if I was playing really well on a Saturday and then got left out on the Wednesday there wouldn't be much left of the manager's door," said Souness.

"So I'll be working on the principle that if you've got the shirt then it will be you who loses it.

"If you have a rotation system, where's the incentive for anyone who's maybe been on the fringes to say 'right, I'm going to do well and if I do then I'll keep my place?'

"I'm not a big fan of rotation but we've got the League Cup, the UEFA Cup, the FA Cup and the most important thing of all -- the championship.

"So as we go along we are bound to have injuries and people will get their chances."