THE failure of a number of Blackburn Rovers players to grab the opportunity offered them at Deepdale last night could have long-term repercussions for the Ewood Park playing staff.

For Rovers boss Roy Hodgson couldn't hide his disappointment at the manner in which individuals spurned the chance to impress and stake their claims for a first-team spot.

It was the ideal opportunity, in a no-pressure situation, for fringe players to convince the manager they have a significant role to play in the future.

But Hodgson will have been given plenty of food for thought about his plans - not because of the 1-0 defeat by Preston North End, but by the performance.

Too many players simply weren't up to it.

And Hodgson, who has been at Ewood just three months, does not give the impression of being a man who will simply let things drift. He has a substantial transfer kitty and now might be the time to use it.

It's still relatively early days in his reign but last night's game suggested that there is not the sort of competition for senior places that Hodgson will demand.

He didn't hide from the truth after seeing Rovers claim a third round Coca-Cola Cup trip to Chelsea on a 6-1 aggregate.

"I am just disappointed for some of our players who had a great opportunity to stake a claim for a place in the first team and patently failed to do so," he said.

"It was an important game for a lot of people. It was a chance for them to show that they deserve a place in the first team.

"I was very satisfied with the two centre backs. Chris Coleman was playing his first game for a year and Tore Pedersen hasn't had many games.

"So it was a useful game in that respect.

"But it was a disappointing night for a lot of other players who didn't really take the opportunity they had been given."

Coleman's return to serious action after just 72 minutes in the reserves following his year-long absence was definitely a bonus.

"Chris Coleman did well and the back four dealt with things very well," said Hodgson. "Preston scored a wonder goal and almost scored another with a similar sort of strike, but the times Tim Flowers was put to the test could be counted on the fingers of one hand."

It was other areas which concerned the manager and rightly so.

"I am very disappointed we didn't take at least one of two very clear-cut opportunities," he added.

"We were trying to win the game and I think if we had taken the first chance we could even have gone on to do so.

"And we certainly could have equalised in the spell we had at the end where we had all the pressure and the goal chances.

"We had one incredible goal chance which seemed harder to miss than to score."

Hodgson had always made it clear that he would be using these opening Coca-Cola Cup ties as experiments, giving other players a chance.

But he must have been bitterly disappointed at the response and, no doubt his thoughts and, probably, future transfer-market activity will have been greatly influenced by what he saw - or didn't see - last night.

"I was always going to do that anyway (take a long-term view). There are a lot of players who haven't played for a long time and haven't been regulars in the team." he said.

Teenager Damien Johnson made his senior debut but found it tough going and was replaced by another youngster, Damien Duff, with 20 minutes left.

"I wanted to try to get someone on who could win the game for us," added the manager.

Rovers' third round tie against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge is set to be played on Wednesday, October 15.

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