Friedel fired up for final push

By Charlie Henderson

To get the name of Blackburn out and about in Europe this season was a big thing Brad Friedel

Brad Friedel has warned Blackburn's rivals for a Uefa Cup spot not to rule Rovers out of the race for seventh.

Blackburn lie seven points off the qualifying mark, but the goalkeeper insists that because of their game in hand they remain very much in the race.

"We desperately want to qualify for the Uefa Cup - it's a goal of ours each and every year," Friedel told BBC Sport.

"We're not giving up. If we win our game in hand at Spurs that'll push us up, but we also need to beat Reading."

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The Royals are presently in seventh spot in the Premiership, one point ahead of Portsmouth and Tottenham.

And if Blackburn are to put any pressure on that trio when they round off their season with two games in four days against Tottenham and Reading, they will need to take a maximum haul against Charlton and Newcastle beforehand.

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Friedel feels their football is good enough to close the gap and the incentive of playing in Europe will drive the club on, even if they have to settle for an Intertoto Cup spot.

Although the American does admit the Lancashire outfit "definitely need some help".

"We've played some really good football this season and have played ever so well in the last three games," added the 35-year-old, who has recently signed a contract extension at Ewood Park.

"We were desperately unlucky not to win at Fulham last weekend, but we'll keep battling on.

"We've got a game in hand on other teams and we're just going to keep doing our best to get to that seventh spot.

"To get the name of Blackburn out and about in Europe this season was a big thing.

"That's why it's important we get ourselves back into the Uefa Cup for next season so we can continue growing the name of Blackburn Rovers throughout Europe."

This term the club reached the last 32 in the Uefa Cup, where they lost to Bayer Leverkusen 3-2 on aggregate.

Prior to that they had beaten Red Bull Salzburg, Wisla Krakow, Basle and Nancy and drawn at Feyenoord.