MARTIN Dahlin is set to fight on for a lead role at Ewood Park - for the time being at least.

But manager Roy Hodgson admits it will become increasingly difficult to hang on to players on the fringe of the first-team action.

That's not the case with captain Tim Sherwood who is staying put at Ewood.

Tottenham have been told they are wasting their time in pursuing the midfield lynch-pin after having an offer of £3.5 million rejected.

"We have had no other offer but it's irrelevant anyway because we have made it clear he's not available," insisted secretary Tom Finn.

Dahlin's long-term future may not be so certain. The Swedish striker was used as a substitute in Rovers' opening two Premiership games after an impressive pre-season campaign.

But he didn't make the 16 for last Saturday's win over Leicester City and is down the pecking order behind Chris Sutton, Kevin Gallacher and £7.25 million summer signing Kevin Davies. He was upset at his omission but Hodgson said Dahlin will keep pushing for a place.

"At the moment he will. He was not happy but none of the players who are not in the team are happy about it.

"He is prepared to keep competing to see what happens," said the Rovers' boss.

However, Hodgson conceded that if the situation doesn't change it could became increasingly hard to keep players in Dahlin's position, with inevitable transfer talk to follow.

"With players who are not playing there will always be speculation about their future.

"Clubs will always say if they are not good enough for us come and play for them," he added. Rovers are, however, keen to keep their squad intact and have been striving to create a larger pool of first-team players to challenge on the domestic and European fronts.

Spurs' interest in Sherwood has therefore been met with a firm rebuttal, while Sutton, also reported in the national Press to be a target for the White Hart Lane club, will not be going anywhere.

Hodgson stressed Rovers' intent to keep Sherwood and dismissed the Sutton link as purely newspaper speculation in the South.

"The two players mentioned are the cornerstones of the team. They have no reason to knock on my door and say they are not happy with the situation," he added.

Meanwhile Colin Hendry, who moved from Rovers to Rangers in the summer is saddened by the demise of his former Scotland team-mate Andy Goram's international career.

Hendry leads the Scots out against Lithuania in Vilnius on Saturday saying he will spare a thought for Andy Goram, the 'keeper who quit international football in May, claiming he was fed-up with allegations about his private life.

"I don't know how Andy is these days in himself," said the former Ewood central defender.

"What I do know is that he is a goalkeeper of outstanding ability. He is the best keeper I've played with.

"Andy is a world class player, and I hopes he finds a club soon and gets back to training and playing."

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