Goalkeeper Aynsley Pears in line to start for Blackburn against Preston

Posted Thursday, December 02, 2021 by PA

Aynsley Pears is set to start in goal for Blackburn in Saturday’s Sky Bet Championship derby with Preston at Ewood Park.

The former Middlesbrough goalkeeper stepped up for the last 35 minutes of Saturday’s 1-0 win over Stoke after Thomas Kaminski went down injured.

Pears, making his first appearance since January, contributed to a second successive Rovers clean sheet and looks certain to keep his spot as manager Tony Mowbray awaits the result of Kaminski’s scan.

Mowbray, whose side are unbeaten in their last four matches, expects midfielder Joe Rothwell to be fit after also being forced off against Stoke and must decide whether to recall striker Tyrhys Dolan against his former club after being a substitute last Saturday.

German centre-back Patrick Bauer is back in contention for Preston after missing last weekend’s draw against Fulham due to a hamstring and Achilles problem.

Liam Lindsay stepped in for him and impressed but manager Frankie McAvoy says Bauer has trained this week and is available for selection.

McAvoy will make a late call on Tom Barkhuizen and Andrew Hughes, who were both forced off against the Cottagers, and says he has other issues to resolve before finalising his line-up.

Matthew Olosunde could feature after coming through a reserve game in midweek but Declan Rudd, Izzy Brown, Josh Murphy and Connor Wickham remain sidelined.