BLACKBURN Rovers striker Luke Varney will go into tomorrow night’s clash with his former club Derby County at Ewood Park with praise ringing in his ears.

Rovers boss Gary Bowyer was delighted with the impact Varney made coming off the bench in Saturday’s 3-1 home win over Wigan Athletic.

The 31-year-old has yet to open his account for the club after being restricted to just four starts since signing initially on loan from Leeds United in February.

But Varney, who completed a permanent move to Rovers in the summer after his contract at Leeds expired, twice went close to breaking his duck in Saturday’s rousing victory.

After just failing to get a telling touch to a cross fired over with venom from Markus Olsson, he was denied by a brilliant save from Scott Carson after Tom Cairney split the Wigan defence in two with a killer through pass.

And Bowyer paid tribute to Varney who made a £1m move to Derby in January 2009.

He said: “I thought he was magnificent when he came on.

“It was just at the right time and he gave us that momentum to keep going forward rather than sit back.

“He’s an absolute menace to play against as he never stops running.

“He’s a fantastic character and we were all dying for his shot to go in the goal. It was a hell of a save.”

Varney, who has made 12 substitute appearances for Rovers, was introduced just after the hour mark for tiring talisman Rudy Gestede.

The big striker started the Lancashire derby after having just one full training session under his belt after recovering from the injury that had ruled him out of the 3-1 defeat at Wolves two weeks earlier.

One of Rovers’ better players at Molineux was Adam Henley.

But, after Bowyer snapped up Shane Duffy and Ryan Tunnicliffe on transfer deadline day, the defender was not named in the matchday squad against Wigan.

“Adam Henley played ever so well at Wolves and didn’t make the squad,” said Bowyer.

“That’s the hard part of the job but it shows that we’re making strides at the quality we’ve got in the squad.”

Rovers U18s, meanwhile, saw their match at home to Sunderland on Saturday postponed after the visitors encountered traffic difficulties.

Rovers welcome Everton to Brockhall this Saturday (11am).