PIERRE Van Hooydonk has ended up at Ewood Park after all - but he will be wearing the red of Nottingham Forest, rather than the blue and white of Blackburn Rovers, when the two teams battle for three vital survival points tonight, writes PETER WHITE.

Powerful Pierre, standing well over six feet and accustomed by now to the rough and tumble of British football, is ready to help Forest pile up the points and, at the same time, prove one to his former employers Celtic.

Goals have been at a premium for most of the teams in this season's relegation battle, hence the focus on players such as the Dutch international striker who promises the capacity to provide them.

And Rovers, along with other Premier League clubs in danger - notably West Ham United - had monitored the position closely in the past.

But, even though his unsettled situation at Celtic gradually deteriorated, Ewood interest clearly waned some time ago.

That was underlined recently when they turned to Danish international Per Pedersen to give their strike force a boost, and he did just that by notching his first Premiership goal at Stamford Bridge last week.

The recent takeover at the City Ground, and subsequent cash injection, left the way open for Forest to spend a large chunk of their new-found wealth on Van Hooydonk. General manager Dave Bassett moved swiftly after the 2-0 defeat at Arsenal to set up a package deal which could, eventually, be worth £4.5 million for the 27-year-old who has become something of a peripheral figure at Parkhead, despite scoring 16 goals in 30 appearances.

Celtic could reflect on a healthy profit, after picking up Van Hooydonk from NAC Breda in January 1995 for £1.5 million.

And Forest knew they must fork out top money for a striker to improve a record which has seen them score just a single goal from Dean Saunders in their last games.

Ironically, that lone strike was worth three points, as it won the Premiership match at Tottenham and Saunders could well line up alongside the Dutchman at Ewood tonight in a bid to find a spearhead capable of claiming survival.

Van Hooydonk said: "The situation at Celtic was not a brilliant one and when Forest showed an interest I was obviously keen to talk to a Premier League club.

"It was important for me to be a member of someone's first team, not just a squad member, because I have ambitions international-wise too and am desperately keen to play in the World Cup in France.

"Of course it is sad to leave Celtic after two years with them. The fans were marvellous to me but there is a right time to leave and that time had arrived for me. "All I want to do now is concentrate on helping Forest stay in the Premiership, but I don't look at the situation as me being the one brought in to do that alone."

He has signed a five-year deal, adding: "I will be just one of the guys pulling together to get the points needed to secure our Premiership place.

"If I don't score between now and the end of the season and still help Forest stay up I will be delighted."

Forest's player-manager Stuart Pearce enthused: "He's an international class player and you always want class players on your side.

"I don't see that there's an extra responsibility on him because of our predicament, but I am sure he can help us in our bid to get out of the spot of bother we are in.

"Hopefully he's got a point to prove to Celtic too and that can be to our advantage."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.