BLACKBURN Rovers new boy Bradley Orr hopes to make his home debut this afternoon against his former club, knowing that results at Ewood Park could do much to determine whether his new team survive in the Premier League.

In a quirk of the fixture list, Orr’s first appearance at Ewood as a Rovers player is due to be against QPR, the club he left less than two weeks ago.

It comes seven days after a debut to forget, as a substitute in the 7-1 loss at Arsenal.

It was a defeat that hurt the defender and Orr knows that Rovers have to show their supporters an improvement today, against a side only three points above them in the Premier League table.

Rovers have taken just nine points from 12 home games so far this season and the 29-year-old, who helped QPR to the Championship title last season, has stressed the importance of improving that record – something he believes the fans can play a big part in.

“I’m really looking forward to playing at Ewood,” said Orr, who will start at right back if Jason Lowe fails to overcome an ankle injury.

“It’s not too strange that it’s against QPR, I knew the fixture was going to come around at some point.

“It’s a real six-pointer. It can change the whole dynamic of the situation if we have three points by 5pm.

“It would give us a real boost going into the two-week break.

“Last year at QPR we used the games at Loftus Road as a real platform for the success we had.

“Home games are vital for us here if we expect to pick wins up, so we need to start in this game.

“I’m sure the fans will be in full voice and on our side, and that can be very important for us.

“They can help make Ewood Park a real fortress, an intimidating place for opponents.

“It can give us a massive lift.”

Orr came on for the injured Lowe after only 36 minutes at Arsenal, but Rovers struggled to contain the Gunners – particularly after Gael Givet’s red card.

“Of course it wasn’t nice for that to happen,” he said.

“It hurt the lads’ pride and it was inexcusable really.

“As a professional it does hurt your pride and I know it hurt the fans as well, so we want to put it right - not just for the fans who travelled but for all the fans because I know it hurt them too.

“We can’t rewrite history so it’s about how you react.

“We can’t sulk, the only way you can put it right is by working hard.

“Everyone has responded really well in training this week.”

Rovers’ last home game against QPR, in the FA Cup third round 13 months ago, was a controversial affair.

El-Hadji Diouf was branded a ‘sewer rat’ by Neil Warnock after the Senegal international was accused of taunting Jamie Mackie as the QPR striker lay on the floor with a broken leg - something Diouf has always denied.

Orr was one of several players to criticise Diouf on Twitter at the time but he believes that both clubs have now put that incident behind them.

“I don’t think any of the QPR players hold any grudges about what happened,” he said.

“Obviously things were said at the time but the player who was involved has left Blackburn now so I think that’s forgotten about.

“There wasn’t a bad tackle in the game, it was just unfortunate what happened. Gael Givet and Jamie Mackie were both just committed to the tackle, as you would expect.

“Jamie is one of my best friends in football so it was a bad day, to see him break his leg.

“I made friends for life at QPR and I’ve spoken to a few of the lads from QPR this week, but we haven’t really spoken about the game. It’s been more about how I’ve been settling into the club.

“Everyone here, the lads, the staff have been great to me.

“It’s just about getting these three points now.”