LARS Bohinen summed up his Ewood dilemma today - "I am too good to be sold but not good enough to play, that's the problem."

The Norwegian international, concerned that his World Cup prospects are going down the plughole without a regular starting place with Blackburn Rovers, has had a written transfer request turned down.

Ewood boss Roy Hodgson, who has already undertaken a sweeping clear-out in a matter of months since taking charge, has made it clear he does not want to lose the midfielder.

After Saturday's derby victory over Bolton, Hodgson said he was not prepared to give a good player a transfer just because he was not in the first team.

But that doesn't solve Bohinen's problem as the Norwegian is unhappy at only making fleeting appearances from the substitutes' bench. Last season, he started less than half Rovers' Premiership fixtures. This season, he has made just six League starts with the competition fierce for midfield places.

Eight players are regularly battling for four positions and that has often left Bohinen in the cold.

He has gone on as a substitute in the last two matches and impressed - setting up Rovers' third goal against Bolton in Saturday's win.

But the player insists he needs a regular place to force his way into Norway's plans for the World Cup and confirmed he had put in a written transfer request.

"The manager picks his 11 and I am a lot more out than in," said the Norwegian. "He hasn't been very helpful in this matter and they have rejected it, at least for now.

"It leaves me with nothing. You have to do whatever you can but with nothing to really look forward to it's hard to motivate yourself for the hard training and games. "I am looking towards my last World Cup and it's very frustrating because it seems to be slipping out of my hands."

Obviously, the problem will not go away, with clubs who cannot hand a regular place to all their stars finding themselves with a similar problem.

Meanwhile, the manager was generally pleased by the victory over Bolton, apart from the nerve-jangling finale

"The quality of our attacking play was excellent for long periods," he said.

"I thought Colin Hendry was excellent and until he started tiring and feeling his knee slightly I thought he was outstanding, as was Stephane Henchoz.

"Damien Duff gave a marvellous display. It's good to see that he can not only do it on the training ground but in first team matches."

Rovers visit Old Trafford tonight for their FA Youth Cup second round replay against Manchester United (kick-off 7pm).

The teams drew 1-1 at Ewood last week, with United snatching a late equaliser, and Rovers are expected to choose from an unchanged squad.

Team from: Stewart, Richardson, Murphy, Scates, Taylor, Brown, McAvoy, Dunn, Woodfield, Hamilton, Ryan, Connolly, Forsyth, Topley, Bingham.

The B team won 3-0 at Morecambe on Saturday with goals from James Featherstone, Paddy Connolly and John Harding. The A team's game against Burnley was postponed.

Rovers' Away Travel Club still have a few match\coach tickets for Saturday's game at Arsenal. All other tickets have been sold out.

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