Division One: Blackburn Rovers v Bolton Wanderers - Neil Bramwell's preview
THEY still call him Bebe at the Reebok Stadium, but Ricardo Gardner is quickly reaching footballing maturity.
The baby-faced Jamaican international struggled to find his feet on his arrival from Kingston club Harbour View at the start of last season.
Now it's the opposition right backs who are struggling to keep track of his twinkling footwork.
Just ask former colleague, Nathan Blake, who was in contention for a first start for Rovers against his old club with fellow striker Egil Ostenstad struggling to shake off a dead-leg from Saturday
"He's come on leaps and bounds. I just think he is a fantastic talent.
"Ricardo has got so much balance and grace on the ball. He's got a sound left foot and scores and creates goals," said Blake.
Gardner burst onto the scene during France 98 in his role as wing back for Jamaica.
But he is now making his mark as an out and out winger, having scored five league goals in his 21 appearances this season.
The key to Gardner's growth in stature is, according to Blake, his growth in stature!
"He seems to have put on a bit of weight and he is now a lot stronger.
"When I was there, he wasn't easy to move off the ball in training, but in games he was a bit weak-legged.
"Now he seems to have got used to the pace of the game and appears to be doing really well."
The one thing still missing from Gardner's game, though, is consistency. He is just as likely to frustrate his team-mates as he is to baffle to the opposition.
A case in point was the thrill-a-second game against Tranmere on Saturday.
Gardner was responsible for carving opening after opening down the Bolton left but, either a poor final ball or poor finish meant that Bolton drew a blank until halfway through the second half.
But then, of course, it was Gardner's own trickery in the box that allowed him to pull a ball back from the by-line into the path of Eidur Gudjohnsen.
New boss Sam Allardyce, though, must be worried about the lack of openings resulting from Bolton's right flank.
Michael Johansen appears to be out of favour and was substituted after just 35 minutes against a resurgent Tranmere.
Allardyce has experimented with a five man back line in recent away games but, with Mark Fish the only fit recognised centre back at the weekend, this option is unlikely to be available tonight.
Rovers' selection will rest on the fitness of their own left wing prodigy, Damien Duff. But, if he is ruled out, then Jason Wilcox will take his place and retain the captaincy.
Parkes said: "Jason was made captain by Brian Kidd and the captaincy was never taken off him.
"But he wasn't in the side, so we had to have another captain and that was Lee Carsley.
"Once Jason comes back in the side, he retains the captaincy - it's as simple as that."
Blake was typically laid back about his chances of starting against the club which sold him for a £4.25 million package last season.
He said: "The side has been doing quite well so I have no complaints about being out of the side at the moment. If I start, I start - if I don't, I don't."
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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