Morten feeling right at home

The 23-year-old winger, who has scored three goals in his last three appearances for Rovers, has admitted he found it tough adjusting to life in a new country in the immediate aftermath of his £1.5 million move from Tromso in August.

The Norwegian international spent the early months of his Blackburn career holed up in a hotel as he struggled to get to grips with life in England and, to make matters worse, his hopes of becoming a Rovers regular were hardly enhanced by Graeme Souness's sudden departure for Newcastle, barely a week after the Scot had brought him to the club.

However, Pedersen has battled through one of the most traumatic periods of his short career and he's now beginning to show that he can have a future under new boss Mark Hughes.

The main catalyst for Pedersen's brighter outlook came several months ago when he moved out of hotel accommodation and into a flat of his own.

Suddenly, life drastically improved for the midfielder off the pitch and now it's starting to pick up on it after Hughes recently restored him to his starting eleven.

"It's always difficult at first when you move to a new country," said Pedersen, who is hoping to keep his place in the side for tonight's FA Cup third round replay with Cardiff City at Ewood.

"I was staying in a hotel in the beginning and that was very hard.

"I was stuck there for six weeks and that wasn't the best situation. You don't have your own things, you're just stuck in a room in no-man's land, and it can become quite a lonely existence.

"But now I've got my own flat, I've met some good friends, and I get people coming over from Norway to visit me so I feel better within myself and more relaxed.

"The last two or three months have definitely been more comfortable for me."

Pedersen always anticipated there would be a period of adjustment following his move from Norway in August last year.

Having grown up at a club like Tromso, where he was a big fish in a small pond, Pedersen was used to life in the comfort zone and he knew he was taking a gamble in agreeing to join Blackburn.

But beneath the boy-band looks is a player desperate to succeed in England and he's prepared to make whatever sacrifices are necessary to achieve that goal.

"I'm still glad I came here. It was a dream come true for me and I don't ever regret making the move to England," said Pedersen.

"There has been some tough times and some good times but it does take a while to fit in in the Premiership.

"All I can do is try and prove to the manager that I'm worth a regular place in the team.

"The biggest challenge for me has not been getting used to the Premiership but getting used to playing with new players.

"At Tromso, I knew everyone so well I could almost play with a blindfold on because the more you play with people, the more you get to know them and the more they get to know you. They knew my strengths and weaknesses, and I knew theirs.

"It's so much easier to play well when you know everybody but I'm working on that every day in training and it's getting better."

Ironically, the turning point in Pedersen's Blackburn career came in the first meeting between Rovers and Cardiff at Ninian Park 12 days ago.

The Norwegian was due to start that game on the bench but when Brett Emerton woke up on the morning of the tie complaining of feeling ill, that led to Hughes handing him a recall and Pedersen promptly seized his chance by scoring his side's goal in the 1-1 draw.

"It was just good to get the feeling of playing a game again. That was the most important thing," said Pedersen, who also scored Rovers' winner at Portsmouth on Saturday.

"I scored a goal and did some good things in that game that maybe showed the manager a bit of what I can do.

"But there's a lot of good people and a lot of good players here and I'm just one of them.

"All I can do is keep working hard and if I keep getting chances then make sure I take them.

"It's a long season, we're only just past halfway, and we're still in the FA Cup so there's a lot of games left yet."