NEW boy Craig Hignett will have to put his Blackburn Rovers debut on hold after being ruled out of tomorrow night's friendly against Bahlinger in Germany.

The 30-year-old midfielder, who joined Rovers earlier this week in a £2.25 million deal from Barnsley, will not feature in either of the club's two friendlies in the Black Forest.

Ewood chief Graeme Souness today revealed Hignett is a week behind the rest of the squad after only starting pre-season training on Tuesday.

So as a precaution he has decided to withdraw him from this weekend's doubleheader, meaning he is now likely to make his debut at Wrexham on July 26.

"Craig's a week behind the rest of the boys so he will be getting his own programme," said Souness.

"If we decided to play him tomorrow night then we are only risking him picking up an injury."

Young striker Ben Burgess is also suffering from a slight niggle which could put his hopes of an appearance in jeopardy tomorrow night.

But, other than that, Souness is happy with how things have gone in training so far.

"Everything is exactly how we wanted it," said Souness.

"The hotel is great and the training facilities are just what we were looking for so things are going to plan at the moment."

Rovers kick off their pre-season programme against Bahlinger tomorrow before meeting FC Rastatt 24 hours later.

ROVERS reserves were set to meet St Mirren today in a behind-closed-doors friendly at Brockhall.