BLACKBURN Rovers are sweating on the possibility of Damien Duff being out of Africa sooner than expected and back to boost the Ewood relegation struggle.

With Duff in outstanding form, the Republic of Ireland have qualified for the second round of the World Youth (under-20) Championships in Nigeria.

But, having qualified from their group with two wins and a defeat, they now have to travel to the North of the country to face the hosts in Kano on Wednesday.

Nigeria began the tournament as one of the favourites and will be fancied to progress.

Ironically, Ireland's best chance of staying on - and continuing to deprive Rovers of the young winger's services in the struggle to survive in the Premiership - could well depend on Duff himself.

Recovering from a slight hamstring strain, he went on as a sub in their first match and nearly salvaged a draw against Mexico in their opening game.

Duff then scored one of the two goals which beat Saudi 2-0 and was impressive before turning in a man-of-the-match display against Australia - scoring again in a 4-0 Irish win.

The host team have had their problems and are now under the guidance of senior coach Thijs Libregts after under-20 boss Olatunde Disu was sacked following the 2-1 defeat to Paraguay.

But they still qualified for the next stage and, with home advantage, will be a tough nut to crack.

At worst, and without wishing the Irish any ill fortune, Rovers would like to have Duff available again at least for the next home match against Liverpool on Saturday week. They have already lost two players for that game, Keith Gillespie and Callum Davidson through suspension, which means they may have to consider switching Jason Wilcox to left back.

Meanwhile, Rovers were pushed into the Premiership's bottom three yesterday, by Everton's 2-0 win over Coventry City.

They are now below Charlton Athletic on goal difference from the same number of games but both clubs have a game in hand on their rivals.

Even though Kevin Campbell's double gave Everton three crucial points, the Merseysiders ran into more disciplinary trouble which could prove costly as the season reaches its climax.

Their two expensive imports, Marco Materazzi and Olivier Dacourt, face missing the last three games.

Italian defender Materazzi was sent off for the third time this season while Dacourt was handed his 15th yellow card of the campaign and looks set for a fourth ban.

Everton have become the first Premiership club to top a century of yellow cards this season.

Materazzi's dismissal would normally only be a one-match ban but, because of his record this season, he looks certain to get a minimum of three matches.

Dacourt faced an FA hearing last month when he reached 14 yellows, and got a two-match ban. He was told then that any more cards before the end of the season would mean another trip to face the FA disciplinary bosses.

That would mean both Dacourt and Materazzi, key men for Everton, finding themselves out of the Chelsea, West Ham and Southampton games with any ban starting 14 days after the offence.

Rovers today rejected a Sunday newspaper story that they were ready to fight a second yellow card for Keith Gillespie which saw the Northern Ireland winger sent off at Highbury last Tuesday night - because they can't.

It was given by referee Graham Poll for standing on Dennis Bergkamp's hand just seconds after he had booked Gillespie for conceding a penalty.

But, even though they felt it was harsh, Rovers said there was no system of appeal against a yellow card so it had not been considered.

And the FA today confirmed: "There is no right of appeal against a one-match suspension."

Ben Burgess scored twice as Rovers Academy under-17s beat Peterborough 4-0 in their first knockout tie at Brockhall. Jon Douglas and Lee Hardy got the others.

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