RAY Harford hinted at a possible recall for George Donis and Lars Bohinen to face Stockport County in a crunch Coca-Cola Cup third round tie at Ewood tonight.

The two overseas internationals came off the substitutes' bench to play a role in helping Rovers claim a Premiership point at Sheffield Wednesday.

And Harford said: "I had different decisions to make on Saturday and I hope players accept I have to pick a team for a particular day and game."

The Rovers boss, who knows Rovers dare not lose tonight, added that he believed foreign players understood the squad system better than home-based men, as it was a regular practice on the Continent.

But he may well want to utilise the attacking flair of Donis and Bohinen to the full against Stockport, who visit Ewood well aware of the importance of this particular tie to Harford.

County skipper Mike Flynn revealed: "You only have to look at the names to see the quality, class and experienced international players they have and I feel they are in a false position.

"But, obviously, they haven't been playing well. They haven't been getting results but I am sure they will want to beat us to boost their own confidence.

"Certainly their manager doesn't want to lose to a mid-table Second Division team because that could be the end of the line for him.

"They won the Premiership two seasons ago, we are two divisions below them, they have the experience and are expected to win.

"But then funnier things have happened in this game.

"This is probably as good a time as any to catch them. We are on a high, while they are struggling."

Rovers seem likely to select their starting line-up from the squad which was on duty at Hillsborough.

No extra injury problems were reported after that game. Team from: Flowers, Kenna, Pearce, Berg, Croft, Ripley, Sherwood, Flitcroft, Wilcox, Sutton, Gallacher, Donis, Bohinen, Marker, McKinlay, Given.

Stockport are still likely to be without injured striker Alun Armstrong and are expected to keep faith with a settled line-up.

Likely team: Jones, Connelly, Todd, Bennett, Flynn, Gannon, Durkan, Marsden, Angell, Mutch, Jeffers. Harford admitted the tie could be something of a "banana skin" for his team but he believes the spirit in the side enabled them to come back from losing that early goal against Sheffield Wednesday.

"I felt there was a desire there among the players. It was a credit to them to come back and you don't get flair performances without that spirit," he said.

The manager is looking for a good win to help get League form going.

Rovers fans are being urged to buy tickets for the Liverpool game on Sunday, November 3 (3pm) as soon as possible and preferably this week.

A sell-out is anticipated and tickets are available to Rovers fans tonight and all week on production of a stub from one of the home games against Arsenal, Derby, Spurs or Leeds.

It is one Liverpool ticket per stub and a maximum of four per application. No tickets will be available on the day of the game.

Rovers' Premiership game away to Wimbledon will go ahead on Saturday, December 14, as scheduled. There are some international games around that time but none that will affect either club.

The away game against Spurs on Easter Saturday, however, has now been postponed, along with the rest of the Premiership fixtures, leaving the top flight with a blank Easter programme!

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.