STEVE Kean is relishing the prospect of having competition for places again in defence as he focuses on getting out of the relegation mire “in the next few weeks”.

The Blackburn Rovers boss welcomed back Martin Olsson and Gael Givet from injury in Saturday’s 2-1 FA Cup defeat at Newcastle and, with Scott Dann also back in full training, Kean is confident fortunes will soon change.

Rovers, currently rock bottom of the Premier League, will have more defensive options than they have had for most of the season when Fulham visit Ewood Park on Saturday and Kean knows they have to take advantage.

Ryan Nelsen, Paul Robinson and Dann are still expected to be missing but, with Samba expected to have recovered from a ‘slight knock’ Kean is looking forward to a selection headache.

He said: “We have found ourselves in the last couple of weeks in a difficult position about the amount of defenders we have got injured.

“Scott Dann has now resumed full training, Martin Olsson and Gael Givet have played. All of a sudden we can start to look at defenders and see competition for places and we haven’t had that for a long time.

“The league is the priority now but it wasn’t before the game because everyone will see we were desperate to win the game.

“We are not there (in the FA Cup) now, we will get some people back from injury and get focused on the league and get ourselves out of this position that we are in and I am sure we will do that in the next few weeks.”

David Goodwillie gave Rovers a half time lead against the run of play on Saturday but strikes from Hatem Ben Arfa and Jonas Gutierrez saw the hosts progress into the fourth round.

Rovers were put under heavy pressure for the majority but Kean was adamant his side could have been further ahead at half time.

“I think Newcastle threw a lot at it,” said Kean. “We controlled the first half with Steven Nzonzi and Petrovic excellent stopping their midfield dictating play.

“I felt we were excellent first half. Then we certainly tired.”

Gutierrez’s winner came in the 95th minute and, with a minimum of four minutes time shown, Kean was left disappointed at the added on time.

He said: “He played over the four minutes and then when the goal goes in he has played 14 seconds. I thought we had to be quite strict on the rules. He said he played what he thought was the right time. We certainly think the goal went in after the time was up.”