MORTEN Gamst Pedersen today insisted Blackburn Rovers are ready to repair their damaged reputation by heaping further misery on Manchester United.

Tonight's Carling Cup semi-final first leg with the Reds will be beamed live to the nation and Pedersen believes the tie provides Rovers with the perfect opportunity to bury their unwanted 'bully boy' tag once and for all.

Mark Hughes' men were accused of 'thuggery' directly after their last appearance in a major cup semi-final when they lost 3-0 to Arsenal in April.

Since then, Rovers have worked hard to shed their negative image and Pedersen is adamant they can finally banish those jibes for good by beating United for the second time this season.

"Some people love the way you play and others don't - there will always be different opinions," said the Norwegian.

"But I think we've learnt a lot since that semi-final last season and I think we can take that into this one.

"We are doing really well this season, we are playing good football, we beat Manchester United earlier in the season, and we came back from 2-0 down against Chelsea.

"Okay, so we ended up losing that one but we showed that we can play football, even against the good teams."

Pedersen has happy memories of previous encounters with United, having made his debut against the Reds and then scoring twice in Rovers' 2-1 win at Old Trafford earlier in the season.

Now, the in-form Norwegian is hoping to repeat that same magic again as Rovers aim to make the most of home advantage this season, before they travel to Old Trafford for the return leg in a fortnight's time.

"We did well against Manchester United last time and we know we can do the same again," said Pedersen.

"We've been playing well at Ewood, we've played a lot of good counter-attacking football, and, hopefully, we can keep that going again tonight.

"We know it's going to be hard because Manchester United are still one of the best teams in Europe, so you don't go out there and try and play like it's a five-a-side.

"But we're really going to have a go and see where it takes us."

Rovers have every reason to be confident going into the game, having won five on the bounce in all competitions, their best winning sequence since they won the title in 1995.

On top of that, their recent record against United is also impressive - Sir Alex Ferguson's side have not beaten Rovers in four matches and they have won just once on their last six visits to Ewood.

That's why Pedersen believes Rovers can put one foot in the final tonight by taking a decisive first leg lead.

He added: "We're still in both cups and we've got a good chance to bring a trophy back to Ewood Park. I think everyone would be pleased with that.

"I'd love to win something with Blackburn and I'd be really proud if I was one of the players who picked up a trophy for the club."