RISING star Trevor Benjamin is not on Rovers' shopping list.

The Cambridge United striker has been watched by a posse of scouts after notching 20 goals last season as Cambridge won promotion from Division Three.

The 20-year-old has added two more to his tally so far this season and has reportedly attracted the interest of Sheffield Wednesday, Charlton, Ipswich and Norwich.

Rovers were also included in that list in a Sunday tabloid yesterday.

But Ewood chief executive John Williams today denied that Rovers were on the trail of the homegrown striker.

Meanwhile, a heroic display from Blackburn Rovers keeper Alan Kelly could not prevent the Republic of Ireland losing 1-0 to Croatia to an injury time winner from Arsenal's Davor Suker.

Lee Carsley and Damion Duff also played the full 90 minutes in the European Championship Group Eight match.

Christian Dailly played 45 minutes and Kevin Gallacher also came off the bench for the final 15 minutes as Scotland beat Bosnia 2-1 to keep the Scots in second place in Group Nine.

Nathan Blake helped keep Wales faint hopes of qualifying for the play offs alive by starring in the 2-1 win in Belarus to move the Welsh up to third place in Group One.

Keith Gillespie came on as substitute and played the last 30 minutes in Northern Ireland's 3-0 home defeat against Group Three high flyers Turkey.

And it's so far so good on the injury front with no reports of fitness problems from the international fixtures filtering back to Ewood Park. Manager Brian Kidd and his staff will now have their fingers crossed that the clean bill of health lasts beyond Wednesday's next round of qualifiers as Rovers look ahead to next Saturday's visit of Tranmere Rovers.

Rovers' Academy teams maintained their winning start to the season with two excellent wins at Leeds United.

Following last week's victories at Newcastle, the under-19s won 3-0 thanks to goals from Gary Hamilton, Steve Foster and Paul Forsyth.

The under-17s were involved in an eight-goal thriller before eventually winning 5-3. Ryan Hevicon grabbed two with other goals coming from Andy Bell, Neil Danns and Ciaran Donnelly. The under-19s are on their travels again next Saturday when they take on Huddersfield, while in a return fixture the under 17s entertain Leeds United at Brockhall.

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