PAUL Robinson believes the scramble to replace England number one David James has already started as he bids to prove he should be the next in line.

The Rovers stopper lost his England crown to Portsmouth’s James following a number of high-profile mistakes last campaign but, with his confidence returning, warns he is hot on his heels once again.

Robinson and James go head-to-head at Fratton Park on Sunday as Rovers look to end their eight-match winless streak but, with Pompey’s stopper now 38, the international gloves will be up for grabs again soon.

Since moving to Lancashire from Tottenham this summer, Robinson is showing signs of the form that have already earned him more than 40 England caps and as far as he is concerned the best is yet to come.

He said: “James is coming to the end of his career so even if he is number one until 2010, there will be a vacancy after that.

“There are four, five or six goalkeepers that could potentially fill that spot and it’s up to us to prove who should be the next one in line.

“I don’t think there’s any obvious pecking order at the moment and there’s a long time between now and the next tournament and there are places to be had.

“I am a better goalkeeper now than the one that signed for Spurs all those years ago. The trials and tribulations I have been through have made me a better player and a better person.”

After replacing James as England’s first choice during the qualifying campaign for the 2006 World Cup Robinson was an ever-present in the final in Germany, keeping four clean sheets as they were eventually knocked out in the quarter finals by Portugal on penalties.

His fortunes turned for the worse in October 2007 though when an unexpected bobble from Gary Neville saw him miss the ball to gift Croatia a vital victory, and a subsequent mistake against Germany saw him lose the gloves to James.

Robinson was left out of Fabio Capello’s first England squad in the summer but his Rovers’ resurgence has seen him return to the fringes of the international fold.

He said: “It's been nice to be involved in the last couple of squads and I see that as a reward for the hard work and the performances I've been putting in.

“There's a big tournament coming up in 2010 and I think everyone wants to be involved in that and there's a long time between now and then so I need to play consistently until then.

“Bobby Mimms has been great for me since coming in as goalkeeping coach at Rovers. He has watched my game from afar for a couple of years and he's brought some new ideas and things that we've worked on.”

Scott Carson has become the latest England goalkeeping hopeful to receive criticism from the media, after his latest blunder in England’s friendly in Germany.

But having been targeted by the critics himself, along with Sunday’s opponent James, Robinson insists it is far too easy to blame a goalkeeper.

He said: “Everything snowballed from the England thing and it's an easy bandwagon to jump on when a goalkeeper's not having a good time, any goal that goes in is his fault.

"There was a time at the end of last season that now matter how I played, people said that I'd either had an average game or a poor game.

"When a goalkeeper's not doing particularly well, especially when he's playing in the national team, it's a very easy bandwagon to jump on."