IT may be the fifth round of the FA Cup but Rovers boss Graeme Souness is ready to ring the changes for the tie at Middlesbrough tomorrow afternoon.

And he believes the travelling Rovers fans will understand that he has to look at the overall picture when he names his team for the Riverside clash.

"Our priority, without a doubt, is to stay in the Premier League," he said. "Winning the FA Cup and the League Cup does not keep me in my job but if we stay in the Premier League I have got a good chance of keeping it.

"I want to stay at this club for a long time but I have got far less chance of doing that if we drop out of the Premiership. In terms of this club going forward, bringing in better players and getting stronger we have to stay up.

"That does not mean we don't want to beat Middlesbrough but we have got the Worthington Cup Final coming up and then the game at Bolton. With those games in mind I will pick the team I think is best for tomorrow.

"I understand that we have got supporters who are making a sacrifice in terms of time and money to go there and so it is our duty to give 100 per cent, whatever team we play on the day.

"But we have got an intelligent crowd both in terms of the way the game is played and in understanding the situation this season."

The danger of losing key players for big games was emphasised last weekend when Tugay was booked against Fulham and so ruled out of the Cardiff date with Spurs.

Souness is well aware that if David Dunn was to get a yellow card tomorrow it would rule him out of the crunch six-pointer against Bolton at the Reebok Stadium in a fortnight and so the England Under-21 star could well be kept under wraps.

Rovers are already without skipper Garry Flitcroft, suspended after his dismissal against Sheffield Wednesday in the Worthington Cup semi-final, and two of the club's international stars have reported back with injuries.

"Alan Kelly has a knee problem and Keith Gillespie got an ankle knock playing for Northern Ireland but everybody else has reported back fit," said Souness.

"It has been disappointing in recent weeks and the players are cheesed off, I'm cheesed off. This is when my experience from a lifetime in the game and my experience of things outside the game has to be used to lift them.

"I can lift myself, that is not a problem and I know I can lift the players. That is what I am paid for. I am still feeling fine, that is my personality. I am still extremely confident."

It is not the first time this season that Souness has selected horses for courses as in the early rounds of the Worthington Cup he played a number of his fringe players. Tomorrow could offer opportunities for the likes of Damien Johnson and Alan Mahon to shine on the big stage. Johnson, who has been told he won't have his contract renewed in the summer, would certainly relish the opportunity to impress any potential scouts.

There is a school of thought that the worst result for Rovers would be a draw, adding another fixture to the growing list to be crammed in before the end of the season but Souness disagreed.

"We want to win tomorrow but a draw is still a better result than a defeat," he said, a predictable response from a man whose desire to win has not diminished since his career as a player.

It was at Middlesbrough that Souness made his name. Having already knocked his former club out of the Worthington Cup he is clearly keen to make it a win double, preferably at the first attempt.