COLIN Todd voiced his frustrations today as Wanderers continued their FA Cup preparations without new striker Nathan Blake.

The £1.5 million December signing, who has failed to score in eight games, will watch from the sidelines tonight as old hands Mark Hughes and Ian Rush lead the Wales attack in their prestige friendly in Italy.

But Todd would rather be working with him on the club's Euxton training ground as he prepares for the Fourth Round clash with Leeds United at Burnden on Saturday - Blake's 24th birthday!

"The fact that he hasn't scored yet isn't a major concern," the Wanderers' boss said assuringly, "although strikers sometimes feel it more than managers and get concerned themselves when they aren't scoring.

"In fairness, he's got in positions to score recently but he's been a bit unfortunate and been denied by a couple of good saves. "What is difficult this week is that he doesn't come back until Friday and we'd really like him on the training ground. If he'd been in the side tonight it might have been different but we really don't know how much work he'll be doing out there."

It's the classic club v country situation - even more irritating in this case because the game in Terni is just a friendly. But Todd, who won 27 international caps himself with England, says he never considered withdrawing Blake from the squad.

Wales boss Bobby Gould has indicated that Hughes and Rush are playing for their international futures, which gives Blake hope that he will have opportunities to add to his four full caps. But it's the present Wanderers are concerned with and Todd put the ball clearly in the player's court when he said: "It's a case of how badly he wants that first goal."

Alan Thompson returns after a six-week lay-off following his double hernia operation and Italian trialist Enzo Gambaro gets his second outing in the Reserves at home to Manchester United tonight. Neither is likely to be considered for selection for the Leeds game.

"We'll have another look at the Italian and hope to see some improvement," Todd explained. "In Alan Thompson's case, we just hope he comes through the 90 minutes without any reaction."

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