Bolton Wanderers v Blackburn Rovers: Finish the year on a high, says Nelsen (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Bolton Wanderers v Blackburn Rovers: Finish the year on a high, says Nelsen

10:30am Sunday 22nd November 2009

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RYAN Nelsen is determined to make 2009 a year to remember after insisting a successful next six weeks can help erase the stresses and strains of a Premier League relegation battle.

The euphoric Kiwi travels to Bolton tomorrow still on a high after helping New Zealand qualify for only their second ever World Cup finals - and is desperate to carry that into his club fortunes.

Rovers have been fighting an almost constant battle against the drop this year but, with three games in the next seven days, the Blackburn skipper insists life can soon be looking brighter at Ewood.

He said: “November hasn’t been bad so far. If we can win a few games coming up then maybe the stress and the burden we have had over the last year - hopefully this can be a reward for that.

“This is football for you. Major highs and major lows. It is how you handle the lows that normally get you to the highs. The whole club has worked and, it is the same as me as an individual, you just battle through it and in the end hopefully karma or something will reward you.

“If we win a couple of games in the next week we could be looking at the top half of the table, in the quarter finals of the cup and everything that has happened will be forgotten.

“That is the beauty of football. You are only a few games from being right up there or right down there. It changes so quickly.”

Saturday’s 1-0 second leg play-off win over Bahrain ensured Nelsen’s New Zealand will be competing in South Africa this summer, their first appearance since 1982.

Nelsen though was quick to spare a thought for his Rovers team mate Keith Andrews, whose Irish World Cup dreams were destroyed in controversial circumstances.

He said: “ It has been crazy. But it just electrified the whole country. The tension, the build-up and the game delivered. You couldn’t have scripted the game better.

“They are saying it was the best sporting event ever in New Zealand history.

"They can’t get enough of it. It had everything, the goal scorer being the son of the coach who went to the 1982 world cup, the penalty save, the drama.

"It is an awesome achievement because we have punched above our weight.

“No matter what you say to Keith, you can’t do it justice.

"I feel really bad for him and hopefully a couple of goals for him against Bolton will help.”

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