Hughes admits to Cole regrets

Martyn Ziegler

Cole returns to Ewood Park tomorrow for the first time since his move to Fulham, and Hughes conceded that he would have loved to be able to call on the striker this season. Hughes said: “I played with Andy here and he was an outstanding footballer.

“Maybe when he was here the circumstances didn’t help Andy get to the level that he always wants to be at.

“He was used to working hard and maybe that affected his general play but you can never say that Andy’s goalscoring record was hindered, he got a significant amount of goals here, so I think people will remember that and understand why he left.”