ROLAND Nilsson is just the sort of short-term experienced signing that Blackburn Rovers boss Brian Kidd could use to help his battle to keep the club afloat in the Premiership.

Unfortunately, the 35-year-old Swedish defender is not only unavailable, he is in opposition at Highfield Road tomorrow.

And Nilsson aims to ensure that his second spell in English football with Coventry City does not end on a sour note.

Set to face England later this year in the European Championship qualifiers, the first part of Nilsson's double date with destiny will come a significant step closer if Coventry beat Rovers tomorrow and push Kidd's men even deeper into relegation trouble.

Having helped the Sky Blues emerge from a sticky period of results with a rare away win over Aston Villa and a 2-1 home success against Charlton, Nilsson believes he and City are on course to make it a happy ending come May.

"I achieved one goal I wanted by being in the team which won a League match at Villa Park for the first time," said the man who enjoyed distinguished service with Sheffield Wednesday before going to Highfield Road via Helsingborg.

"That was important but staying up means a lot more.

"And it would spoil not only the end of my career in England but also my retirement if we got relegated.

"It would be something that would not be very nice to look back on, to be in the Coventry squad which went down after so many successful battles down the years to stay up. "I don't want that to happen. I am determined it won't be the case and that goes for the rest of the squad as well."

Coventry are the acknowledged experts when it comes to eluding relegation - so many times on the final day of the season.

But they always succeed.

It is more than three decades since they first made it to the top flight and they have never dropped out - an enviable record. Nilsson also knows how narrow the line is between success and failure, as he explained after that stunning 4-1 first at Villa Park which could well have signalled the start of this season's survival run.

"The result was very important because we had been playing well in previous matches but not getting results which, at the end of the day, is what matters," said the full back who won his 100th Swedish cap last month.

"It might sound simple but the difference was that we put our chances away and also did not make any mistakes.

"And now we have to look to build on that."

Last Saturday's win over another of the relegation strugglers Charlton came in extraordinary circumstances.

Already a goal down to Charlton, City were then reduced to 10 men by John Aloisi's red card.

But they not only equalised through Noel Whelan, they went on to grab a late deflected winner from Trond Soltvedt.

Perhaps they used up their share of luck for a while.

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