McCarthy hoping for chance

Benni McCarthy will be hoping he has done enough to get back into the reckoning for Blackburn’s UEFA Cup first-round second-leg clash against Larissa tomorrow.

The misfiring South African striker did not travel with the squad for Saturday’s Premier League victory at Sunderland, with manager Mark Hughes preferring him to try to rediscover his form out of the first-team spotlight.

Hughes has no new injury concerns as his squad look to overturn a 2-0 first-leg deficit against their Greek opponents, with defender Ryan Nelsen (hamstring) extremely unlikely to return and striker Jason Roberts (thigh) out of contention.

Team (from): Friedel, Enckelman, Emerton, Samba, Ooijer, Warnock, Bentley, Dunn, Savage, Pedersen, Santa Cruz, McCarthy, Derbyshire, Tugay, Mokoena, Rigters, Khizanishvili, Brown.