EWOOD chief Graeme Souness today revealed he's virtually decided upon his best 11 after Rovers stepped up their pre-season preparations with a dramatic comeback against Wrexham last night.

Former Newcastle United wing-man Keith Gillespie scored twice in a thrilling finale as the men from Ewood roared back to win 3-2 in an entertaining clash at the Racecourse Ground.

And, now with just two weeks left before Rovers' curtain-raiser at Derby, Souness insists the pieces in his Premiership jigsaw are starting to fall into place.

"We've got three more games - Bradford away, Ternana away and Barcelona at home - and in those three matches we'll be trying to stick with the eleven who will start the season," said Souness.

"I moreorless know now what my starting 11 is and, though it would be naive of me to think we are going to have the same fit 11 week in, week out, we are going to be starting at Bradford on Saturday with roughly what we regard as our strongest team available to us at that time."

Gillespie certainly strengthened his claims for a place at Pride Park -- subject to a possible suspension -- with a couple of stunning strikes following his introduction as a second half substitute.

And the Northern Ireland international's form in pre-season generally has clearly not escaped the attention of Souness.

"So far in pre-season, Keith Gillespie has shown he wants to make that position his own, both in his performances during games and from the way he's been training," said Souness.

"And if he maintains that then he's got a real chance of holding onto that position.

"So the ball's very much in his court.

"He has something very few other people have which is real pace and he can take people on.

"He's also exciting to watch but it's other parts of his game that we are looking for him to improve on."

Before Gillespie's late magic, Rovers looked to be heading for an embarrassing defeat against Brian Flynn's plucky Second Division battlers.

But, despite the fact his side have yet to hit top gear, Souness is still pleased with how his side's preparations are going overall.

"It was a harder game for us than we had at Port Vale on Monday but we got away without picking up any major injuries so it was another useful exercise because we were made to work hard," said Souness.

"So, generally speaking, it's a case of so far, so good."

Meanwhile, Souness slammed newspaper reports claiming Rovers are desperate to get rid of Republic of Ireland international Jason McAteer.

A story in one of the weekend tabloids claimed Rovers were struggling to find a buyer for the former Liverpool star.

However, Souness has leapt to the defence of the player, suggesting he could still have a future at Ewood .

"It's no secret that Jason's been unhappy because he wasn't in the team towards the end of last year," said Souness.

"I can understand that because he's an international player with a good reputation in football, both as a player and as a man.

"So I was very unhappy when I was told about those reports.

"They weren't fair on the player and certainly not fair on the football club either.

"And, what's more, it's not true."