Hughes happy with his options in attack

The South African striker will be resting at home while Hughes' side face MyPa in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Cup.

McCarthy was ruled out of the first leg in Finland after suffering concussion in the victory against Middlesbrough at the weekend.

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Rover and out: Blackburn will be without striker Benni McCarthy against MyPa

The players rose to the challenge after he left the field with his replacement Roque Santa Cruz getting one of the goals in the 2-1 win.

Matt Derbyshire was also on target after coming on for Jason Roberts and all three strikers are in the 21-man travelling party.

In addition to this trio of forwards, Dutch star Maceo Rigters and Paul Gallagher are also in the squad and Hughes admits he is spoiled for choice.

He said: "We scored two great goals at the weekend. Roque made an impact and Matt did the same.

"But I cannot tell you who will play against MyPa as we have a number of quality strikers.

"They all want to play and it is important from my point of view to have competition for places up front.

"Certainly we would like a couple of goals in the first leg as that would set us up nicely in the tie."

While Blackburn are going into the match with confidence, MyPa are in turmoil.

Janne Hypponen has taken over as coach after being assistant to Ilkka Makela, who was sacked after a string of poor results.

However, Hughes expects MyPa to be a stiffer test than the Lithuanians of FK Vetra, who were dismissed in the Intertoto Cup.

He said: "Sometimes when a coach leaves it can have a positive effect on a team.

"We are mindful of that and I am sure MyPa will be stronger than Vetra, even though they are having a bad run.

"It will be difficult for us and we will give them respect but I expect to progress.

"We have a strong squad and the victory against Middlesbrough has put us in good heart."

Blackburn reached the last 32 of the competition last season before going out to Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen.

Skipper Ryan Nelsen loves European nights and is convinced they can kick on this year after that previous experience.

"We want to be in Europe and we have a good enough squad to compete on several fronts," said the New Zealand defender.

"The Premier League is our meat and potatoes and Europe is our dessert.

"It's a great competition to be in, it's invaluable experience for the players and it's great exposure for the club.

"We know that if we want to be considered a good team have to be good in Europe as well."