BLACKBURN boss Graeme Souness must plan for Christmas without Damien Johnson after the young midfielder was ruled out for a further two weeks today.

The Northern Ireland international has not featured in the Rovers first team since damaging his back in the 1-0 win over Wolves on November 18.

And now the 22-year-old is facing the prospect of spending the whole of the festive period on the sidelines after his injury has been slow to respond to treatment.

"The physios have got to be careful with Damien because he's only 22 and, if they do rush him back, it could be detrimental to him," said assistant boss Tony Parkes.

"So he's probably a couple of weeks away yet which is a shame for him because he was doing very well.

"Damien's a player who you know what you're going to get from.

"Some of the other players can be a bit up and down -- they have good games and indifferent games.

"But Damien's an average, steady, seven out of 10 performer.

"In games that's good enough but other players have come in and done well.

"Jason McAteer has come back in and now perhaps you start looking at him and think he could be the player who holds the position on the right hand side.

"So when one door closes another one opens -- that's all part and parcel of football."

Rovers continue their assault on second spot at in-form Crystal Palace tonight. The Eagles are currently cock-a-hoop after booking a place in the semi-finals of the Worthington Cup on Tuesday night -- the latest victory in a 12 game unbeaten run.

But confidence is also sky high in the Rovers camp following Sunday's scintillating derby victory over Burnley at Turf Moor.

And Graeme Souness's troops sense the chance to close the gap on the leading pack.

"We know how important it is now," said Parkes.

"We've got to sixth place in the league, the points above us are very close, and I'm sure the players know how vital it is from now on in.

"Everyone at the club realises the chance is there -- second place is in view.

"Along with ourselves, there's probably four teams at the moment who are quite consistent.

"So we've just got to carry that on because we can't afford to lose too many more games if we want that final place.

"We know it's going to be a difficult game tonight, they've got two good young strikers in Forssell and Morrison, so we've got to hope we can perform well and get the points.

"If it's a battle then we've got to be up for that, as we have been in recent weeks.

"And, if it's a football match, then we're quite capable of playing that kind of game, too."

Apart from Johnson, Craig Short is also likely to be absent after failing to recover in time from his hamstring injury.

So Souness will stick with the squad which came away from Turf Moor with three more valuable points.

Rovers will choose from: Friedel, Filan, Duff, Dunn, Ostenstad, Bjornebye, Jansen, Curtis, Flitcroft, Berg, Mahon, McAteer, Kenna, Taylor, Bent, Hughes, Hignett, Dailly.

Meanwhile, Palace boss Alan Smith is likely to stick with the squad which beat Sunderland in the Worthington Cup.

Andrejs Rubins is Smith's only injury doubt for the clash.

Palace will choose from: Kolinko, Smith, Austin, Fan Zhiyi, Ruddock, Mullins, Rodger, Morrison, Black, Forssell, Pollock, Gray, Thomson, Carlisle, Gregg, Harrison.