MORTEN Gamst Pedersen is aiming to gun down Manchester United for the second time this season when he lines up against his childhood heroes tonight.

The Norwegian international, who grew up supporting the Reds, was Blackburn's goalscoring hero when he netted twice in their 2-1 win at Old Trafford in the Premiership last September.

The 24-year-old wideman has since described that day as one of the best of his career, and he's planning a repeat performance again this evening when the two sides meet in the first leg of their Carling Cup semi-final.

"It was always my dream to play against Manchester United at Old Trafford and I would have settled for scoring one goal against them that day, never mind two," said Pedersen.

"That was one of the biggest memories of my career and, hopefully, I'll have another one after tonight."

Pedersen's eye for goal has been one of the major factors in Rovers' meteoric rise under Mark Hughes over the last 12 months.

The former Tromso star has bagged 13 goals in 47 appearances for the club since he forced his way back into the side at the beginning of last year.

Before that, Pedersen had struggled to settle in England but, thanks to the help of friends like Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the Manchester United and Norwegian striker who could line up against him this evening after overcoming serious injury problems, he finally succeeded in winning Mark Hughes over and he has never looked back since.

"Ole was one of the people who called me and backed me up when I was struggling to settle in England and that really helped," revealed Pedersen.