SIMON Grayson is hoping to boost his chances of a permanent move to Sheffield Wednesday by stopping Blackburn Rovers in their tracks at Hillsbrough tonight.

The 30-year-old full back has been given the all-clear to face his current employers in this evening's televised clash.

And, as he looks to resurrect his career away from Ewood, he knows a good performance could help win him a place in Paul Jewell's long-term plans.

"The only person I've got to prove anything to is myself," said Grayson.

"I don't think I need to prove anything to Graeme Souness because he has already made his mind up about me.

"I don't think there's any chance of me coming back to first team football at Blackburn if things fall through.

"So if I play well tonight it can only help my chances of staying with Wednesday.

"It's still early days yet and I've got another couple of matches to play before my loan spell is up.

"But, when they signed me it was with a view to a permanent deal, so hopefully I can show them that I'm worth keeping."

Owls boss Jewell has major selection problems ahead of the game, with strikers Andy Booth and Michele Di Piedi both facing fitness tests.

Booth missed Saturday's 1-0 win at Grimsby with a knee problem while Di Piedi -- who scored the winner at Blundell Park -- is struggling with an ankle injury.

With Belgium international Gilles De Bilde already a definite non-starter, Richard Cresswell could partner Gerald Sibon up front. Veteran keeper Kevin Pressman also misses the match through suspension following his opening day sending off against Wolves.

So former Port Vale stopper Paul Musselwhite will fight it out with rookie Chris Stringer for the keeper's jersey.

"It's going to be a very difficult game for us because Blackburn have got off to a good start," said Grayson.

"In contrast, we've had an eventful start, having Kevin sent off after 13 seconds on the opening day then going 3-0 down to Huddersfield at home before fighting back to 3-2.

"But we've shown a lot of character to bounce back in both.

"We might be down to the bare bones tonight but there's a lot of togetherness and spirit in the squad, which is what you need in this division."

Meanwhile, Rovers warmed up for the clash with a 3-2 victory over Norwich on Saturday.

On an emotional afternoon at Ewood, goals from David Dunn, Nathan Blake and Matt Jansen edged Rovers home as they said their goodbyes to Jack Walker.

And manager Graeme Souness was delighted with the result in trying circumstances. "It was always going to be an extremely difficult day but we got three points from a game we didn't play well in," said Souness.

"We are all different and some people handle difficult situations differently.

"And I think some of our players found it hard going for whatever reasons.

"So we have to be grateful of the points and I'm not surprised at it because I work with them every day of the week. "You look for little signs and little signals of how we are going to perform and I'm not surprised we weren't 100 per cent at the races.

"But we got the the points which was the most important thing."

Rovers squad for tonight is likely to be: Kelly, Curtis, Bjornebye, Short, Dailly, McAteer, Flitcroft, Dunn, Duff, Jansen, Blake, Diawara, Johnson, Carsley, Taylor, Filan.

Wednesday will pick from: Musselwhite, Hinchcliffe, Grayson, Walker, Quinn, Sibon, O'Donnell, Cresswell, Hamshaw, Di Piedi, Booth, Muller, Hutton, Crane, Rudi, Stringer.

Rovers Under 17s got the new Academy season off to a winning start with a 3-1 victory at home to Millwall. Jonathan Walters scored twice and Andy Bell got the other. The Unders 19s lost 2-0 at Tottenham.