CAPTAIN courageous Lee Carsley today vowed to get back in action as quickly as possible after paying a heavy price for his astonishing bravery against Newcastle on Monday night.

An innocuous-looking challenge midway through the first half of a thrilling cup clash left the tough-tackling midfielder nursing a broken bone in his right foot.

But instead of coming off for treatment, the Republic of Ireland international defied crippling pain to lead Rovers' midfield scrap against Bobby Robson's men for a further 20 minutes.

However, Rovers' medical staff now believe his act of courage may have made the injury worse.

And now Carsley faces up to six weeks on the sidelines at a crucial time in Rovers' promotion campaign.

"Looking back on it now, I think I could have done it more damage by playing on," admittedly Carsley.

"The situation was pretty desperate, to be fair, at the time of the injury.

"But adrenaline got me through it and I just wanted to make it until half time so I could have a pain-killing injection.

"But as soon as I took my boot off in the dressing room, it swelled up straight away. And looking at it now, I can't even put any weight on it."

Carsley has only ever had one other serious injury during his playing career so far.

And this latest setback could not have come at a worse time as Rovers' attempt to step up their quest for a play-off place at Bolton on Saturday. "It's come at a bad time for me because we are entering a crucial period but I don't suppose there's a good time to get injured," said Carsley.

"I think I just got stood on and it must have caught a sweet part of my foot.

"But although I'm disappointed I'm going to be missing for a while, at least it gives some of the other lads a chance.

"We're always talking about how important it is to have competition for places, and it's situations like this where that comes into play.

"I'm on crutches at the moment and they've told me it will be two weeks before I can put my foot on the floor again.

"But I'm hoping to be back within six weeks.

"As soon as I can start jogging on it I want step up into full training again, because it's a crucial period in our season and Tony will need as many fit players as possible." Meanwhile, Garry Flitcroft could be ready to bolster Tony Parkes' midfield resources in the next couple of weeks.

Flitcroft, and fellow midfielder Billy McKinlay, are both looking to step up their comebacks in Rovers' reserve game at Middlesbrough tonight. Marlon Broomes and Keith Gillespie are also included in Ian Miller's squad.

Rovers from: Fettis, Richardson, Murphy, Flitcroft, Hawe, Broomes, Gillespie, McKinlay, Burgess, Baldacchino, Forsyth, Corbett, Bingham, Dunning, Douglas, O'Brien.

Lancashire police are advising Blackburn Rovers fans travelling to Bolton Wanderers on Saturday to avoid the A58 Moss Bank Way because of road works.

An alternative route is to take the M65 and then the M61until junction six, from where the Reebok Stadium car parks are sideposted.

Two prizes remain unclaimed from the Rovers Return matchday lottery against Newcastle.

Number 043832 won the first prize of £900, while number 040980 won the second prize of a Swatch watch.

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