DAVID Dunn is confident he can still have a positive impact on Blackburn Rovers’ fight to beat the drop – even if he has to settle for a bit-part role in the season finale.

The injury-plagued Rovers midfielder admits he might have to settle for the tag of ‘super sub’ in the Premier League run-in but insists that won’t stop him giving everything to help secure his boyhood team’s top-flight status.

An Achilles injury is continuing to limit Dunn’s involvement this campaign, having made just six Premier League starts all season, but he is prepared to play through the pain barrier for the collective cause.

Dunn is unable to train with the rest of his team-mates during the week in a bid to protect the Achilles from further damage but pain-killing injections on match days enable him to be included in the squad.

Having missed the early part of the season after surgery on the other Achilles, Dunn admits his continued absence has only increased his frustrations as Rovers sit precariously one place above the drop zone.

He said: “The injury is not too bad. I have got some irritation in the opposite Achilles to the one I had surgery on in the summer. It feels pretty similar to what that was.

“But I am just getting through games and will hopefully play a part in getting the right results.

“I accept I will be in pain but I have an injection to get through games. It is obviously quite sore, not training too much but the games are more important so it is a case of trying to be fit for those games rather than training.

“I’m not sure I will get too many full games between now and then. I am working with the physio all week to keep my fitness topped up but it is difficult when you are not training to try and push for a starting place. I am not out there all the time.”

Dunn’s creative spark has been missed by Rovers’ midfield this campaign, with one goal to his name in just 13 appearances, and it is unlikely he will figure from the kick-off for tomorrow’s visit of Tottenham.

But he has warned against writing him off from the bench, claiming he still believes his influence can be invaluable for the remaining eight games of the season.

He said: “I would like to think I can still make an impact, and that I can come on the pitch and change something. If I get the opportunity hopefully I can come on, set a goal up or score a goal myself.

“That is unfortunately the part I am going to have to play for the minute. Just going on and looking to make an impact when I do.

“The injuries are frustrating but other than that it is not a big problem, but just one that irritates and it is difficult to run with. It becomes a bigger problem than it actually is, because you can’t do things you want to.

“We are not in a great position at the minute so we are all trying our best to get us out of it.”

Great Harwood born Dunn knows more than most the pain of relegation, having suffered that fate with Rovers in 1999, and admits he is already getting ear ache from his friends.

“I have stopped speaking to most of my mates at the minute,” he said.

“They are either Blackburn or Burnley so I am getting stick off the Blackburn ones and the Burnley ones are giving me some as well.

“It is all part of it I suppose, but it gets on your nerves at times.”