LEE Carsley is desperate to go into the biggest week of his international career with a rare win bonus safely stashed in the bank.

The midfielder, along with Ewood team-mates Jeff Kenna, Alan Kelly and Damien Duff, is set to link up with the Republic of Ireland tomorrow for three games which could well decide their hopes of playing in next year's Euro 2000 finals.

But, while his international hopes face a triple date with destiny, Carsley's prime concern was to taste his first victory in a Blackburn Rovers shirt at Norwich.

Remarkably, that was something he was still looking to achieve this afternoon, after 11 matches since his £3.375 million transfer from Derby in March - Carsley signed shortly after Rovers' last League win over Wimbledon.

"It's amazing, I just can't understand why it has gone like that," said Carsley, who has scored twice in three games this season without being able to inspire that long-awaited win.

"I have not been known for scoring goals in my career, though the gaffer does want me to do more in that respect.

"But I would rather the team had won a game than me score a couple of goals. We really need to get that first win, maybe just to get our noses in front in a game. Just scoring the first goal would boost our confidence.

"For we definitely seem to be lacking a bit of confidence up in front of goal."

Christian Dailly, Callum Davidson and Kevin Gallacher will join Scotland next week for their games against Bosnia and Estonia.

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