JASON Wilcox has spent the past few days putting his own personal annus horribilis way behind him.

For the Blackburn Rovers winger's England call has been a huge bonus at the end of a year of stress and pain.

To go from the operating table and cruciate knee ligament surgery to the verge of the European Championships after just seven senior starts on his Ewood comeback is a remarkable achievement.

"It's unbelievable really. It has been an horrendous 12 months but this is a great way to top it off," said Wilcox who has been training with the England squad preparing for tonight's Wembley clash with Croatia.

"If my injury taught me one thing, however, it's that you cannot plan ahead in this game.

"You just never know what is going to happen.

"Now I take each day as it comes and treat every game as though it could be my last.

"It's hard not to get carried away when something like this happens but it's a massive experience just to join the squad.

"When I heard I had been named, it was a real shock. If I had been playing for the last three months, I might have been thinking about it. But I had only started seven games. "I thought that scoring in my first game back at home against Liverpool and being named man of the match was good."

"But for this to happen...absolutely brilliant!"

Some might say that, having played so little this season, comeback man Wilcox should be in ideal shape for Euro 96 and fresher than most.

"In a playing sense, I suppose I am fresh," he said.

"But it has been a year full of stress and worry and I have given my body a battering by working every hour I could to get back.

"Simply being called up by England was a reward for all that work and it's just something for me to enjoy," said Wilcox, who was today waiting to hear if he would be named as one of the substitutes.

Colin Hendry and Kevin Gallacher are in the Scotland side that will play in Denmark tonight. Billy McKinlay is on the bench.

Shay Given and Jeff Kenna will line up for the Republic of Ireland in the Czech Republic. Chris Coleman is in Switzerland with Wales while Henning Berg and Norway take on Spain in Oslo.

Rovers A team are in action today away to Marine.

Tickets for Saturday's final home game against Arsenal are still on open sale at normal matchday prices. Rovers are also selling seats for the last match of the season, at Chelsea on Sunday, May 5, to season-ticket holders only. Priced £20, no concessions, they are limited to a max of two per season ticket.

Any Rovers season-ticket holders who have still not received renewal forms should contact the club on 01254-671666.

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