TIM Flowers faces a late fitness test on a groin strain before Blackburn Rovers take on Crystal Palace at Ewood tomorrow.

The keeper was a last-minute withdrawal at Hillsborough yesterday, leaving Alan Fettis to make his senior debut for Rovers.

And the Northern Ireland international made an important contribution as the team continued their impressive away record. He will play again tomorrow if Flowers is still unfit, but Billy McKinlay now stands down for the next two matches because of suspension.

Manager Roy Hodgson has plenty of cover for McKinlay, with Garry Flitcroft favourite to come in and Hodgson was also pleased by the debut of Fettis. Flowers picked up a slight groin injury in training on Christmas Eve and the manager said: "We were hoping the rest yesterday would clear it up.

"But we didn't want to take any chances. Alan Fettis came in and I thought he did very well. He made one or two fine saves, especially from Benito Carbone."

Hodgson is hoping there will not be any other problems and is expected to choose from a similar squad.

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