Rovers boss Sam Allardyce has confirmed that David Dunn will play no further part in the season after undergoing surgery on his achilles.

The Rovers vice-captain has been troubled for the last couple of months with the niggling injury, being unable to train with the rest of the squad in the run-up to games.

The plan had been to wait until Rovers were safe in the Premier League before operating, but after playing the last half hour in Sunday's Ewood Park win against Wigan Athletic, Dunn hadn't recovered sufficiently and the decision was made to have the operation, which took place on Thursday.=

"David Dunn this week has not been able to overcome the pain he's suffered over the last few weeks to continue to play," confirmed Sam Allardyce. "So we had to make the big decision to let him have his operation.

"It wasn't the same achilles as last time, it is the other leg unfortunately, but we don't envisage that he'll be too long, but obviously now it is about getting him 100% fit to start next pre-season."

Dunn will miss the final four games of the season, and the Rovers boss isn't too hopeful that Roque Santa Cruz will feature either. The Paraguay international is currently out of action with a knee injury.

"Personally I don't think that we'll see Roque, I hope I'm wrong but I wouldn't like to lead anybody on that he might play before the end of the season," said Sam.

"But if he does that would be a bonus.

"Jason (Roberts) is probably the only player we've got injured at the moment that is likely to play some part in games before the end of the season."

No other injuries have been reported therefore the Rovers boss is expected to select from: Robinson, Ooijer, Nelsen, Givet, Warnock, Diouf, Tugay, Grella, Pedersen, Samba, McCarthy, Bunn, Khizanishvili, Andrews, Villanueva, Olsson, Doran, Treacy, Mokoena, Simpson.