Reid ready for battle to remain a Rover

IRELAND midfielder Steven Reid says he is not interested in moving to Cardiff City or any other clubs chasing him at the moment and aims to be playing for Blackburn during the second half of the season.

Cardiff boss Dave Jones wants to strengthen his midfield with Stephen McPhail sidelined until February and Ricardo Scimeca having announced his retirement earlier this month.

Reid played only his second full game in six months in Saturday’s FA Cup defeat at Aston Villa having returned from a loan spell at QPR that was beset by hamstring problems. After suffering no ill-effects after the Villa game, he now wants to be on the Blackburn team sheet each week and sign a new contract.

The 28-year-old is not too worried by comments from Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni saying it would be very difficult for him to return from a series of injuries. Reid insists that he will be back in the Ireland squad if Sam Allardyce keeps on picking him for Rovers.

“The gaffer’s (Allardyce) not seen me play too much this season and hopefully after that performance I can force my way into his plans and earn a new contract with Blackburn,” said Reid.

Rovers chairman John Williams has stated publicly he was keen that David Dunn and Reid were offered new contracts to replace agreements that expire in the summer.

Reid has had three injury blighted seasons and the comments of Trapattoni saying a full recovery for Reid would be “very, very difficult” was attacked by Allardyce as being “disgraceful, completely out of order.”

The London-born player has not been affected by Trapattoni’s outburst and looks forward to returning to the Ireland squad.

“I was involved in Trapattoni’s first three games,” said Reid. “Obviously he knows what I can do. My priority at the moment is Blackburn but if I get back into the Ireland fold I will be delighted.

“Over the last two or three years I’ve been unlucky with the injuries but hopefully with the rehab I’ve done it is just a matter of getting games under my belt. Hopefully I can get back to my best.”

Reid admits it is not a time to gloss over Rovers’ poor Premier League position. They are fighting for their place in the league.

“Our position – we are there for a reason,” Reid said bluntly. “Three points off relegation – we are in it no doubt about that and the sooner we can pick points up the better.”

Blackburn meet Villa again this week in the Carling Cup semi-final tomorrow. The 3-1 scoreline at Villa Park looked an emphatic defeat but it could have been so different if David Dunn had converted a penalty when Rovers were 1-0 down and El-Hadji Diouf not received his marching orders for a two-footed lunge on the stroke of half-time.

Nathan Delfouneso and Carlos Cuellar put Villa 2-0 up either side of Dunn’s miss. Nikola Kalinic pulled a goal back in the 55th minute but John Carew’s late penalty made it 3-1.

“Going down to 10 men I think we are delighted with the performance,” said Reid. “Maybe they had a bit more of the possession. I think we played well and made it hard for them to break us down.”

ASTON VILLA: Guzan, Beye, Cuellar, Collins, Warnock, Ashley Young, Reo-Coker, Delph (Sidwell 46), Downing, Delfouneso (Carew 75), Heskey.

BLACKBURN: Brown, Chimbonda, Givet, Jones, Olsson, Salgado (Rigters 76), Dunn (Khizanishvili 54), Reid, Diouf, Di Santo (Pedersen 45), Kalinic.

Referee: Howard Webb.