COLIN Hendry will be fit to face Wimbledon at Ewood tomorrow, with Blackburn Rovers wary of a cup backlash from the Londoners.

Hendry's fitness is a crucial factor in Rovers' hopes of picking up the two or three wins they need to assure safety.

And caretaker-boss Tony Parkes makes no secret of the fact that he wants those points in the bag as soon as possible.

"We could probably survive by picking up a point a match, but that's no good to us," he said. "Once we get another win under our belts, we will be flying again.

"It's vital for us to keep the momentum going and open up a gap between ourselves and the teams at the bottom.

"We have to take advantage of our home games and get the points we need as quickly as we can."

Hendry may have to have surgery on a troublesome groin problem but he hopes to delay it as long as he can to battle on for the team cause.

He managed to play the full 90 minutes against Nottingham Forest in midweek and expects to be ready to face a big test against Wimbledon tomorrow.

The Dons were beaten in the Coca-Cola Cup semi-finals on Tuesday - by Leicester on the away goals rule - and Parkes admits it could affect them either way.

"It could work one of two ways," he said. "They might be a little bit down but, on the other hand, they might be thinking we only have the FA Cup left and if we go out of that then we must finish high enough in the League to qualify for Europe.

"But we'll be ready if there is any backlash from Tuesday night.

"I certainly don't expect an easy game.

Rovers have added George Donis to the squad which drew 1-1 with Forest on Tuesday as the winger has returned to training after recovering from his ankle injury.

They are expected to choose from: Flowers, Kenna, Berg, Hendry, Le Saux, Sherwood, McKinlay, Flitcroft, Gallacher, Pedersen, Wilcox, Warhurst, Bohinen, Marker, Donis, Duff, Given.

Wimbledon striker Efan Ekoku stressed that they would shake off their midweek disappointment.

"There is still plenty to play for," he insisted.

"It was a major disappointment in midweek but there is still the FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea and another Wembley chance as well as our ambition of getting to Europe with a high League position.

"We are still one of the best teams in the country. Nobody can dispute that and now it is all about character and picking ourselves up from a rare setback."

But manager Joe Kinnear was delighted with his team's performance and could name an unchanged side: Sullivan, Cunningham, Perry, Blackwell, Kimble, Ardley, Jones, Earle, Leonhardsen, Ekoku, Gayle.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.