Ewood Beat

ROVERS keeper Brad Friedel was voted the Disabled Supporters Club player of the year at their annual awards evening last week.

Friedel has been a huge fans favourite since he signed from Liverpool on a free trasnfer 18 months ago.

And his man-of-the-match display in the Worthington Cup final triumph over Spurs played a big part in tipping the balance in his favour.

To cap a memorable few days, Friedel was also named in the United States' World Cup squad for the finals in Japan and South Korea later this summer.

Also in the 23-man squad named by head coach Bruce Arena was Josh Wolff, the Chicago Fire striker who spent a week on trial with Rovers before Christmas.

Congratulations to both players on a great achievement.

Crazy for Cole

EWOOD hot-shot Andy Cole is the bookies favourite to score the opening goal at Goodison Park tomorrow.

Cole is currently on fire for Rovers having scored on each of his last two outings.

And a goal against the Toffees would see him take his tally to an impressive 10 in 18 games since his club-record move from Old Trafford in December.

Corals have him priced at 11/2 for the opening goal, fractionally ahead of Tomasz Radzinski who is quoted as a 6-1 shot.

But Everton are favourites to win at 11/10, compared with Rovers at 9/5 and the draw at 12/5.

Shakers boost

BURY Football Club have sent a very sincere thank-you message to all who contributed to the 'Save our Shakers' bucket collection at Ewood Park on Easter Monday.

The amount collected was £3246.52.

"This is a tremendous amount. Please convey all our thanks to your supporters," wrote secretary Mrs Jill Neville, mother of Manchester United stars Gary and Phil.

Call Ewood

CENTURY FM hosted their popular 'Legends' phone-in live from Ewood Park earlier this week.

An enthusiastic audience turned up to watch Alan Kennedy, Gary Owen, Graeme Sharp and Micky Thomas answer questions on a whole host of footballing matters during the hour-long show.

Quiz night

THE next Supporters Association quiz night will take place on Thursday, May 9, in the Blues Bar at 8pm.

As usual, teams of four or five are welcome and the entry fee is £5 per team.