Defence gives Hughes welcome headache
Blackburn boss Mark Hughes has been struggling to find two fit central defenders in recent weeks but soon could be faced with a surplus.
Lorenzo Amoruso and Craig Short could both be back in little more than a week while new signing Aaron Mokoena, the captain of South Africa, is also a centre-back though he can play in midfield.
Mokoena will not be registered in time for tomorrow’s match at Aston Villa or Monday’s visit by Charlton but Rovers are hoping to get international clearance before the FA Cup third-round trip to Cardiff on Saturday January 8.
Mokoena, 24, is the first signing of Hughes’ managerial career after joining from Belgian club Racing Genk in a £600,000 (€848,000) deal.
Meanwhile, Australian midfielder Brett Emerton believes Blackburn are on the point of embarking on a run of victories.
Rovers have lost just once in 10 matches but most have been draws until an excellent performance at Bolton on Tuesday led to a 1-0 victory.
Emerton said: “I wish we knew the answers why results haven’t always gone our way so far this season. We have been working hard in training and the results have started to improve. Now I believe we are close to putting a good string of wins together.
“Hopefully that will come sooner rather than later and will take us away from the wrong end of the table.”
Hughes is likely to start with the side that beat Bolton with Jay Bothroyd up front alongside the in-form Paul Dickov and Jonathan Stead, who struck the post against Wanderers, on the bench.
