EWOOD chief Graeme Souness today urged fit-again striker Nathan Blake to develop a 'horrible' streak in a bid to fire his side to promotion.

Welsh international Blake made his comeback after a three month injury absence in Saturday's FA Cup clash with Derby at Ewood.

And Souness believes the 29-year-old could still have a crucial role to play in his plans if he can become his Mr Nasty.

"I want him to be horrible to play against -- not just sometimes, but all the time," said Souness.

"When Nathan's firing on all cylinders he's a real handful.

"I think he's just out of the top group of strikers. He has pace, he has power, and he's good with the ball.

"And, if he's in the right frame of mind, then he's someone people don't enjoy playing against.

"But that's what he has to be every week. Not occasionally, but every time he plays.

"He has to have it in his mind that he wants people to say 'I didn't enjoy that today' at the end of every 90 minutes."

With Blake now fit-again after recovering from an Achilles operation, Rovers are ready to listen to offers for Egil Ostenstad.

The Norwegian international striker has hardly figured this season and currently finds himself behind Blake, Matt Jansen, Marcus Bent and Mark Hughes in the pecking order.

But he turned down a loan move to Spanish giants Las Palmas last week and there has been no further interest in the former Southampton man in the last seven days.

Meanwhile, Souness was disappointed not to finish off Derby at the first attempt after Rovers missed a host of chances.

But the Rams dug deep to grind out a 0-0 draw and set up a replay at Pride Park on Wednesday week.

"If you don't score at home in a cup tie then it's a failure, particularly in our position, because we don't want to be playing lots of replays," said Souness.

"So it wasn't a great afternoon in terms of a result. But I think, in terms of a performance, I've no complaints at all.

"I thought we did very well and on another day we would have scored a goal because we bossed the game from start to finish.

"They showed us a great deal of respect by the way they came and played.

"They came to try and nick it or get a draw and that's exactly what they did, which is understandable because they had several people out.

"At no time did they throw people forward in numbers. It was always safety first. But that's football. I'm just disappointed we didn't take one of the chances we had."

Stig Bjornebye missed the game because of a knee problem but he should be fit to return against Barnsley on Saturday.

"He just opened his knee ligament in training but he'll be fine for the weekend," said Souness.

Rovers' Academy under 17s recorded a brilliant 4-2 victory over Derby at the weekend in their top of the table clash at Brockhall.

Jonathan Walters scored a hat-trick and Anthony Martin grabbed the other goal as Rovers swapped places with the Rams at the top.

But the Under 19s went down 4-1 at home to Everton. Steve Foster was sent off when the score was 0-0 and Marc Richards grabbed Rovers' consolation goal.