BLACKBURN boss Graeme Souness today admitted there's still a lot of work to be done before Rovers can consider themselves genuine promotion contenders.

Ewood chief Souness was desperately disappointed with his troops after last night's 1-1 draw with Rochdale in their Worthington Cup first round first leg clash at Spotland.

And he may now step up his efforts to sign St Etienne defender Lucien Mettomo after the likes of Martin Taylor and Marlon Broomes failed to impress on their return to the first team.

Souness took the opportunity to rest the likes of Craig Short, Christian Dailly and Stig Inge Bjornebye in a bid to give some of his fringe players a run-out.

But their replacements did not cover themselves in glory on a night when former Preston North End striker Tony Ellis snatched an injury time equaliser to give Dale hope for the second leg. "There's still a hell of a lot to be done, but that's football," said Souness. "You never stop learning.

"I was looking to the players who I brought in last night to show me that they are ready to go into the team when everybody is fit and challenging for places.

"But they didn't do that and that disappoints me. "It's going to be a long, hard season and I was looking for those players to impress me which would give me difficult decisions to make in the future.

"I wanted them to put pressure on me to make a decision and they have not done that.

"I didn't get that from some of them."

Rovers created a host of chances but had just Nathan Blake's solitary second half strike to show for their efforts before Ellis's last-gasp stunner.

"We didn't deserve to win the game and it would have been unfair on Rochdale if they hadn't got something out of it," said Souness.

"But it's a two-legged affair and we'll do better in the second game.

"We had the better of the clear cut chances.

"They had most of the play in the second half and they put us under pressure.

"It would be nice to do well in one of the cups but this competition isn't that important to me.

"We have to be totally focused on one thing and one thing only this season, and that's getting out of this league.

"And I'll say the exact same thing when the FA Cup comes along as well."