CRAIG Short today admitted he feared he had become surplus to requirements at Blackburn Rovers.

The veteran defender, who made his comeback after a three month lay-off in the reserves last night, felt his days were numbered at Ewood as he watched Lorenzo Amoruso star in Rovers' opening day demolition of Wolves.

At the time, Short was facing up to the prospect of missing a third of the season through injury after undergoing surgery on a serious knee problem.

But now three months on, in an ironic twist, the 35-year-old is fully recovered and ready to answer Graeme Souness's prayers as the Rovers boss seeks some much-needed defensive stability in the absence of Amoruso, who was recently ruled out until the New Year with a similar injury to the one Short suffered.

"When we started off with a 5-1 win against Wolves on the opening day of the season I really felt out of it," admitted Short, who put himself in the frame for a possible first team return against Everton on Monday by coming through his first 90 minutes of the season last night.

"Lorenzo scored on his debut and I felt as though I'd reached the end of my shelf life.

"But it's amazing how quickly things can change in football and when we've struggled in the last few games I've really felt guilty about being out of the side.

"I feel sorry for the manager at the moment. He's done ever so well here and he's the next most successful manager this club has had after Kenny.

"He's certainly given me the best three years of my career and I just want to get back into the team now and try to help him out.

"I know he's angry and frustrated by the current situation but a lot of positive things have come out of all the meetings he's had with the players recently.

"The players are still really behind the manager and each other.

"In a strange way, the last few games seem to have brought everyone even closer together when normally you'd expect it to go the other way."

Rovers' defensive failings in Short's absence were highlighted once again against Leicester on Sunday as they slipped to a fifth consecutive defeat in the Premiership.

Brad Friedel has yet to keep a clean sheet this season, which is in stark contrast to last term when the United States number one recorded more shut-outs than any of his top rivals.

However, Short believes there's still plenty of time for the tide to change as Rovers attempt to dig themselves out of trouble after sliding into the Premiership's bottom two for the first time in four years.

"This is the worst spell I've known since I've been here," said the former Everton star.

"We've had some tough times before, like two years ago when we hardly won a game from December through to the Worthington Cup final.

"So we've been through this before and the good thing this time is we've still got plenty of time to turn things around because it's still November and we've only played 11 games.

"A lot of the players are still settling in. There was a big change in personnel over the summer and the Premiership has come as a big shock to some of them.

"But, given time, they'll settle down and prove what good players they are.

"I always hated moving clubs myself and it does take time to settle into a new environment."