TIM Flowers reckons Coventry City must find a way past the best goalkeeper in the Premier League if they are to cause an FA Cup upset at Ewood Park tomorrow.

The former Blackburn Rovers favourite, now the assistant manager to Iain Dowie at City, is relishing the chance to help plot his old club's downfall when the two sides meet in an intriguing third round tie.

But, with the evergreen Brad Friedel showing few signs of losing his famous superpowers, Flowers admits the Sky Blues could have their work cut out as they aim to reproduce the type of performance that saw them dump Manchester United out of the Carling Cup earlier in the season.

Paying tribute to his successor at Ewood, Flowers, who was a member of Rovers' Premier League title-winning team of 1995, said: "Brad Friedel is outstanding in my opinion, and as good as anything there is in the Premier League.

"He doesn't make many mistakes, and his game is solid in every department.

"He's a big hero with the fans up there, and rightly so, after doing such a good job for the club over the last five or six years.

"I honestly rate him the best keeper in the Premier League, because I just think he's top, top drawer."

Friedel provided yet another powerful demonstration of his enduring quality on Wednesday evening, when he saved a penalty in Rovers' hard-fought 1-0 victory over Sunderland at Ewood.

The 36-year-old had also performed similar heroics at Derby four days earlier, successfully denying Steve Howard from the spot, to lay the foundations for another crucial three points.

As Friedel continues to defy the ageing process, his manager Mark Hughes reckons he has the capacity to play on into his 40s - a view which is also shared by Coventry custodian, Andy Marshall.

"Brad Friedel is a fantastic goalkeeper and if he's not the best in the Premier League, then he's certainly second best," said Marshall.

"He's a great role model and still looks good at 36.

"He's fit and strong and ready to go on for another two or three years, ra-ther than falling apart, so he's a great example to myself and other goalkeepers out there."

Few people in the Coventry camp were more excited about the prospect of a trip to Ewood when the draw was made than Flowers, who clocked up 217 appearances during six years with Rovers, between 1993 and 1999.

A £2.4 million capture from Southampton, which made him the most expensive goalkeeper in Britain at the time, Flowers arrived when the Jack Walker revolution was just beginning to gather pace.

And within 18 months, the England international was the proud owner of a Premier League winners' medal.

Recalling his time at the club, Flowers, who turns 41 next month, said: "I joined Blackburn when they were in a transitional period.

"We didn't have our own training ground then; we used to train on park pitches with a crematorium in the middle.

"The pitches were a disgrace. There used to be little bits of house bricks to cut your knees open on, and dog muck everywhere.

"It was freezing and windy, and Kenny Dalglish used to climb on Ray Harford's back so he could tape the nets to the goalposts.

"We also had to use breeze blocks to weigh the back of the nets down because of the wind.

"We did shooting practice and there was a sheep dog who nutted the ball every time it went in the back of the net with its nose.

"When the pitches got waterlogged, we used to have to ring up British Aerospace and ask to use their facility, which was on top of a hill.

"It was usually blowing a hurricane, and we had to use cornerflags as goalposts, which sparked a number of punch-ups and disputes about whether goals had actually gone in or not.

"But they were great times, and we enjoyed a lot of success under Kenny and Ray.

"We had round pegs in round holes, and we had a lot of ability in the side.

"We finished second in my first season and then, obviously, won the title the year after. They were great days and I've got a lot of fond memories of my time there."