TIM Sherwood is desperate to put his "nightmare" behind him and start showing Blackburn Rovers boss Roy Hodgson just what he can do.

And Hodgson himself warned the men currently holding the midfield berths that they must maintain their present high standards or risk losing out in an increasingly competitive area of the Ewood squad.

Despite the fact that his three-match suspension was completed this afternoon, Sherwood is still some way short of ending his personal torment.

But he is making excellent progress following an appendix operation and said: "I am just waiting for the all clear.

"I don't think I have lost too much fitness but I will need games.

"It's been a nightmare, especially with a new manager coming in. I would have been available on Monday but for the operation and I can't remember ever having been out for this long before.

"Estimates vary, it just depends how quick a healer you are," added the skipper who has seen others start to establish themselves with the new boss. Those standards, however, have to be maintained.

Hodgson said: "We have done well in midfield and we also have some strong players on the bench.

"It's going to be important that the players who are in the side continue to do that because you can't keep players like Tim Sherwood, Lars Bohinen, Anders Andersson and Damien Duff, who's a fine young talent, out of the side if it's not doing well."

Meanwhile, Norwegian central defender Tore Pedersen has returned home after a few days training and a reserve outing.

Hodgson intends to bear him in mind but has not made any decision and stressed he is not desperate in his search for players.

Chief scout Mick Brown watched a recent game in Sweden, when he checked on other defenders, Jesper Mattson of Hodgson's former club Halmstad and Andreas Jacobsson of Helsingborg.

"It's not because we are chasing a particular player, it's because I want to know what's going on," Hodgson said. "And, if something happened such as someone getting a bad injury, I want reports on my desk, I don't want to start looking from scratch."

Per Pedersen is struggling to shake off a knee injury which has affected him all week.

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