KEVIN Davies has finally given up on his dream of playing for England.

The Wanderers hit-man, who narrowly missed out on last summer's mini-tour to the USA, is convinced his big chance has passed him by.

"I'd love to be given a chance," he said. "But I can't see it coming now."

Davies, who won representative honours with the Under 21s, was desperately disappointed when he lost out to Peter Crouch when Eriksson was looking for a big target man to give him attacking options.

It was an open secret at the time, confirmed by various sources since, that the England boss and his assistant, Tord Grip, were torn between Crouch and Davies before opting for the lanky striker, who was still at Southampton but destined for a £7 million summer move to Liverpool.

"That was towards the end of last season and, from what I gathered, it was either me or Peter Couch who went to the States," Davies said.

"He went and he's done well, he's taken his chance. Now I don't see it coming, me playing for England, as much as I'd love to."

Davies knows his shortage of goals this season - he's scored just two in 23 games - has probably wrecked whatever chance he had of convincing Eriksson he is a better option to Crouch, who now has three caps to his name and looks set to go to the World Cup.

Never a prolific striker, what he lacks in goals he more than makes up for with his physical presence and commitment. But he accepts now that his prospects were harmed when he went 18 games between scoring his first in Wanderers' opening day draw at Aston Villa and netting his second in the 4-0 win at Everton in December.

"When I scored the first goal at Villa at the start of the season, I thought this could be the chance for me to get on a run and score a few goals," he said.

"But at this stage of the season and in my career, I see too many other strikers in front of me. There's Crouch and probably people like (Darren) Bent, who could play in that position, I don't know.

"You kick yourself because I'd love to play for him (Eriksson) but I don't see it happening."

Davies acknowledges that his cause is not helped by playing for one of the Premiership's less fashionable clubs, but jokes that things might change for the better, if Sam Allardyce were to succeed Eriksson.

Smiling broadly, he added: "Unless Sam gets the job, I'm going to struggle."