BLACKBURN striker Roque Santa Cruz last night told his team-mates they must forget the disappointment of Thursday night's UEFA Cup exit and focus on the challenge of qualifying for Europe again.

Mark Hughes and his players are still reeling from the shock of crashing out of the UEFA Cup at the hands of the unfancied Greek side Larissa, who lost 2-1 in the second leg of their first round tie at Ewood but still went through to the group stages after a 3-2 win on aggregate.

Now Rovers find themselves in the bizarre situation of having to pick themselves up for tomorrow's Premier League clash with Birmingham, even though they go into the match on the back of three straight victories!

A win could lift Rovers back into the top six in the table, and Santa Cruz believes it's vital he and his team-mates get the events of Thursday evening out of their systems quickly, otherwise they could lose ground on the leading pack.

"It's important to focus on this game and put what happened in Europe firmly behind us," said the Paraguayan.

"I think everyone will miss being in the UEFA Cup. On Thursday nights, just to sit at home watching television is going to be very painful.

"Some people might say it's better that we are out of it (because it enables us to concentrate more on the Premier League), but that's not how the players feel about it.

"We've now got to try and qualify for the tournament again because everyone wants to be in it again.

"Everyone knows we can do better in Europe than we have done this season, so it's important we finish in a good position again."

Thursday's exit from Europe was a bitter pill for everyone in the Rovers camp to swallow, not least the manager, who felt his players had a genuine chance of going far in the competition this season.

However, Hughes insists it is imperative the whole squad now moves on, starting tomorrow against Birmingham.

"We are disappointed because we've gone out in a tie which we expected to go through, so there is disappointment in the dressing room," said the Rovers boss.

"But we have to look at the positives and we've won the last three games we've been involved in.

"We've now got a game at home against a team that is below us in the league so it's one we are expected to win, and it's a good game for us.

"We have to dust ourselves down because the Premier League comes round again very quickly after European nights, and you have no time to dwell on it."

Rovers comfortably beat Birmingham when the two sides met in the Carling Cup 11 days ago but Steve Bruce fielded what was effectively a reserve side that night, so the Blues are expected to provide a stiffer test tomorrow.

Santa Cruz added: "I think they are going to change nine or 10 players from that game, so I don't think we can form much of an idea of how they are going to play from that.

"But we've just got to keep focused on what we are doing and if we do that we'll have a good chance of winning the game."