BLACKBURN Rovers boss Gary Bowyer is calling for heroes on the pitch and in the stands in tonight’s huge FA Cup quarter-final replay against Liverpool.

Rovers, already massive underdogs in Bowyer’s eyes, could be without a staggering 12 first-teamers for the clash with the Premier League outfit.

And that is why their fired-up manager wants the 21,000 home fans who will cram into Ewood Park to act as their injury ravaged side’s ‘12th, 13th and even 14th man’.

Bowyer has assured supporters that whoever takes to the field for Rovers will give sweat, blood and tears for the cause.

And he is challenging one of his players to emerge as the man who fires the club to Wembley for the first time in 20 years.

 “It’s going to take a massive effort from everybody and there’s got to be a hero from a Blackburn Rover,” said Bowyer.

“Obviously we’re going to need more than one, they’ve all got to be heroes, but we’ll need one to score the winning goal for us.

“That’s what we’re looking for, we’re looking for heroes.”

That hero could well turn out to be top-scorer Jordan Rhodes.

The 17-goal striker has been restricted to just 13 minutes of FA Cup action this season.

But he is expected to start tonight if Rudy Gestede, who led the line magnificently when Rovers drew 0-0 at Anfield last month, fails to recover from the hamstring injury he sustained in Saturday’s 3-0 Championship win at Leeds United. 

And Bowyer said: “We’re going to need loads of heroes in terms of workrate but you always need a match-winner and there’s no better match-winner than Jordan Rhodes.

“So hopefully he’ll step up to the plate and put his name in lights.”

Gestede and fellow forward Chris Brown will be given late fitness tests while goalkeeper Simon Eastwood and winger Craig Conway will return.

But Grant Hanley, Shane Duffy, Chris Taylor, David Dunn, Jason Lowe and Josh King are ruled out through injury.

Rovers will also be without the cup-tied David Raya and Jay Spearing and the ineligible Paul Taylor and John O’Sullivan.

And Bowyer said: “Our fans are going to have to play a massive part.

“We’re going to need them cheering every pass and chapping every goal kick that we get.

“It’s a long time since Ewood Park will have had as many fans in it and it gives our fans another opportunity to show how good they are, not just in front of a national audience but a worldwide audience.

“We had it at Anfield where we had 6,000 fans and they never shut up. The players were talking about how great they were.

“And on Wednesday they have got to be our 12th man, 13th man and even 14th man to help us beat a team of Liverpool’s quality.

“It’s going to take a massive effort from everybody connected to the club. “

As of 6.30pm last night just 69 tickets remained on sale to Rovers fans with a database booking history.

Any remaining tickets would go off sale at 2pm today.

And Bowyer said: “There’s a buzz around the town and it’s a long time since we’ve had that.

“Hopefully we can give the supporters something to cheer about but they’ve got to make noise for 90 minutes and that’s the biggest challenge for them.”