TEENAGE starlet David Dunn looks like having to continue bearing a major midfield burden for Blackburn Rovers, following their failure to bring in reinforcements.

Ewood chief executive John Williams admitted today that the club had drawn a blank so far, despite extensive efforts to strengthen midfield.

And he did not anticipate any developments before Wednesday night's crucial home game against fellow-strugglers Everton.

That will leave manager Brian Kidd to pin his faith once again in 19-year-old Dunn, even though he would like to give the youngster a break from the pressures.

He also has loan man Dario Marcolin and inexperienced Oumar Konde available but Dunn is favourite, probably to link up with Jason McAteer if Rovers revert to a four-man midfield.

The club are desperate to bring in new blood to solve the midfield crisis.

They have looked at plenty of possibilities, including West Ham's Northern Ireland skipper Steve Lomas and Charlton's highly-rated Mark Kinsella.

But they denied today that Rangers' 23-year-old midfielder Charlie Miller was on their hit list of potential signings. West Ham boss Harry Redknapp has insisted from day one that Lomas was not available and, while Rovers would not comment on Kinsella, it is understood that he was high on the list of players who had attracted their interest.

The problem is availability.

Charlton would obviously be reluctant to sell one of their best players to another team battling to avoid relegation and West Ham are looking for a European spot.

Miller, who has been on the fringe of things at Rangers this season - just three starts and 18 games as a substitute - could have been a possibility but the club dismissed those suggestions today.

The chief executive also poured cold water on speculation that Rovers were about to pounce for a young Darlington striker, Craig Skelton, who has yet to make the Third Division club's team. Skelton, 17, is tipped as a star of the future but Williams said today: "I would hope, and I am sure, that our extensive scouting operation is aware of any promising young players, but this name has not been mentioned to me as someone we should be on the point of signing."

Solving the club's midfield dilemma remains the number one task and it had been hoped Rovers would be able to make significant progress in the 10-day break between the games against West Ham and Everton.

But it has not turned out that way.

"The key to it all is Brian's insistence that new players fill his medium-term requirements and are not just bought for the short term," said Williams.

"And midfield obviously remains the priority."

Meanwhile, four of Rovers' young hopefuls will be involved in a European Championships under-18 qualifier in Belfast tomorrow night.

Gary Hamilton, Steve Hawe and Jon Topley are in the Northern Ireland squad, with Peter Murphy named by the Republic of Ireland.

The second leg of the tie will be in Dublin in May.

Brian Kidd watched the Bury v Crystal Palace game on Saturday. Bury defender Chris Lucketti and keeper Dean Kiely have both been linked with moves away from Gigg Lane.

An outstanding performance by the Academy under-17 side saw them wipe the floor with Queens Park Rangers at Brockhall on Saturday, beating them 9-1.

Rangers hit back quickly after going behind to an early goal but were powerless to stop rampant Rovers whose goals came from Ben Burgess (4), Marc Richards (2), Steve Flitcroft (pen), Liam Blakeman and Robbie Doyle.

The under-19s looked like losing 1-0 to Rangers but Darren Dunning grabbed a late equaliser after a lot of Rovers pressure.

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