ENGLAND wannabe David Dunn is aiming to emulate the achievements of Aston Villa's Darius Vassell by turning on the style for Sven Goran Eriksson in Sunday's Worthington Cup final at the Millennium Stadium.

Vassell's star performance for England in their friendly with Holland last week boosted his hopes of a surprise call-up for the World Cup.

And Dunn hopes he can also make a similar impression on the big stage in Cardiff as time ticks on his own dream of appearing in Japan and South Korea.

"Obviously, playing in a major Cup final at the Millennium Stadium is a big stage and I'll be looking to do my best because a good performance can only help my chances.

"But, as I've said all along, all I can keep doing is my best for Blackburn and then see what happens from there.

"My main priority at the moment is to get us out of trouble in the league and, if we stick together, then I'm confident we can do that."

Dunn could be forgiven for feeling a touch envious when Vassell seized his chance to impress last week.

Just a couple of months ago, he was being strongly touted for a call-up to the full England squad after some stunning performances for the Under 21s.

However, a calf injury sustained against Manchester United effectively put paid to any chance he had of making the squad for the game in Amsterdam.

And instead it was Vassell who grabbed the headlines with a goal on his full international debut.

"I wasn't envious at all because I know Darius from the Under 21s and he's a great lad so I was chuffed to bits for him, especially when the goal went in.

"I'd said to my mates during the game how well he was playing and when that goal flew in it put the icing on the cake. So he's got a great chance of going to the World Cup now, providing he's stays injury free.

"The Dutch are one of the best sides in the world so to perform against them must have put him right in the picture.

"As for me, I know there was a lot of hype and a lot of talk about me getting a chance as well but I wasn't really expecting it to be honest, so I wasn't disappointed about not being in it.

"Having said that, I'm still hoping I might get a chance against Italy in the next game so I've just got to keep my head down and try and perform as well as I can for Blackburn."

With Tugay and Garry Flitcroft both ruled out through suspension on Sunday, much will rest on the shoulders of Dunn as Rovers aim to win the midfield battle.

Creatively, he is one of the side's most potent weapons on his day and he will be charged with supplying the bullets for Andy Cole and Matt Jansen.

But even more emphasis is likely to be placed on the defensive side to his game, something he has been working hard to improve over the last couple of months.

"The gaffer goes on about that aspect of my game all the time and I feel I'm improving in that department," said Dunn.

"The manager is always taking me aside and giving me a few tips on what I should be doing so I think it's coming together a bit more with every game."

That quality will certainly be needed over the next few months once Sunday's game is out of the way as Rovers battle for Premiership survival.

But, for this weekend at least, Dunn and his team-mates will put their wretched league form to one-side and attempt to write their name in Ewood folklore.

"Our problems in the league won't be on our minds on Sunday because this is a one-off and we've got to make the most of it.

"It's 42 years since we last got to a major final and we owe it to both the fans and ourselves to put on a show, then we can start to worry about the Premiership again.

"I don't think we've been playing that badly but we haven't been getting the results so we've got to try and change that quickly."