Rovers suffer Emerton blow
17 Mar 2008 - 16:54:37
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- Rovers suffer Emerton blow
Blackburn Rovers have received a blow with the news that Brett Emerton suffered a recurrence of a groin injury during Saturday's 2-1 defeat at West Ham United.
The Australia international had only just returned to the side after missing the 1-1 draw against Fulham the previous weekend.
But Emerton's return was cut short after he lasted just 45 minutes at Upton Park before being replaced by Zurab Khizanishvili.
"Brett had a recurrence of his groin injury so he had to come off," confirmed manager Mark Hughes.
Emerton's injury is also likely to keep him out of Australia's World Cup qualifier against China in Kunming on March 26.
Meanwhile, Hughes has admitted a failure to qualify for Europe this season could have a knock on effect on the quality of player he is able to attract to the club in the summer.
"Qualifying for Europe is important to us because it really helps with recruitment," he told the Lancashire Telegraph.
"If you've got the attraction of European football then it helps when you are trying to attract a better quality of player.
"Ideally, we would like to present that to players if we are able to attract the right quality.
"There are still games to play and we've still got games we feel we can win, so it's not over yet."