Kean wants fringe men to shine

The Rovers boss is set to make a number of changes from the side which beat Arsenal 4-3 on Saturday. In that match central midfielder Ryan Lowe ended up deputising for the injured Michel Salgado at right-back and the England Under-20s captain's adaptability means he could start there against the League One strugglers. "I thought when he went back, even though he is a central midfielder, he showed he could adapt," said Kean. "He is an intelligent boy with great physical capabilities and I thought he did pretty good considering that was his full Premier League debut." Summer signing Simon Vukcevic made his debut with a 25-minute substitute appearance against the Gunners and he could be in line for a first start. "He has settled in. He wants to take people on, get beyond the full-back and get a cross in," said the Blackburn manager of his acquisition from Sporting Lisbon. "He is a player who will take a little bit of time, as will (another summer arrival) Radosav Petrovic, because it is a different intensity. "He is an exciting one who wants to get after full-backs and wants to really expose them so that is a different dimension for us. "I think he can play wide on both sides. And you've not seen his free-kicks yet - he's practising every day and he's got a bullet of a left peg." Kean hopes players doing well will increase competition further within his squad. "There are certain players who need games, there are certain players who are pushing for a start," he said. "To keep everyone involved, although we are not going to be doing it to be disrespectful to the competition, the team which will be picked will be the one which is really pushing. "It is a competition we can win this season. If we can get back (the injured) Morten Gamst Pedersen, Ryan Nelsen, David Dunn and David Goodwillie we have virtually two teams we can play and so we can be strong in the cup match and against Newcastle at the weekend as well."