LUCAS NEILL'S impressive start to his Rovers career has earned him a recall to the international squad - and handed his new manager a selection headache.

When Graeme Souness heard that Neill had been called up he said ironically: "That's just great.

"I guess that is the double edged sword you have when you buy good Australian players, and so we will just have to accept it.

"He has done very well for us since he joined and we are all delighted with him. But losing him for a couple of matches is just part of the price on his ticket."

Neill has been an ever present in the Premier League for Rovers since he moved from Millwall at the start of last month and he has immediately adjusted well to the added demands of playing in the top flight.

He will head off for next month's controversial friendly against world champions France Down Under and then feature in the 22-man squad that has been named for the two legged World Cup play-off against South American opposition.

The dates for the play-off, and their opponents, have yet to be confirmed but all qualifying matches must be completed by November 25 ahead of the World Cup draw on December 1.

That means Neill is likely to be missing for the home game against Liverpool and the trip to Chelsea.

Jet-lag may also be a factor in any decision to play him against Manchester City at the end of the month.

There is better news for Souness in relation to defender Martin Taylor who continues on the road to recovery with a run out for the reserves tonight..

The England Under-21 defender is going to be on the bench when they take on Everton at the Autoquest Stadium tonight and Souness said: "He will get a game tonight, ideally we would like to have him on for the last 20 or 30 minutes.

"He is progressing at about the pace we thought he would, he is about where he should be after the operation."

"Tiny" underwent a knee operation just over a month ago, after a run of four successive first team starts, and at a time when Souness had other injury problems at the back.

Souness will use tonight's match to give a number of his first team squad an outing and he said: "It is the reserves first match for several weeks so we will have an experienced side out with people like Marcus Bent, Craig Hignett and Jeff Kenna involved."

Kenna has been linked with a possible move away from Ewood Park and Souness confirmed: "There have been a couple of enquiries but nothing solid."

One player who will not be involved is Corrado Grabbi but the club doctor, Phil Batty has said that the Italian striker will be fit to take his position up front with Matt Jansen at home to Leicester next Monday.

Grabbi missed the impressive 3-3 draw at Highbury at the weekend and Batty explained: "He has experienced some discomfort with his hamstring and we felt he should be rested as a precaution,.

"It's not a tear or anything like that, but we felt it would be a risk to play him at Highbury."

Batty is also hopeful that Damien Duff will be available again to add to the selection options for Souness.