Dexter Blackstock on Being in the U-21 Squad and QPR (Prior to Ray Jones Tragedy)

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[The interview was conducted/the article was written prior to the Ray Jones tragedy]

strong>Yaan Tear/Easling Gazette August 23, 2007 - Dex told to bide his time

Dexter Blackstock has been urged by Stuart Pearce not to fret about being overlooked for the U21s in midweek, and told: 'Your time will come!'
Blackstock's delight at being selected for young England's friendly against Romania on Tuesday night was tempered by his failure to get off the bench.
He watched as QPR teammate Michael Mancienne earned his first cap as a half-time substitute in the 1-1 draw in Bristol and was not given the chance to duplicate his goal for Rangers on the opening day of the season on the same Ashton Gate turf.
But the talented 21-year-old has been urged to bide his time by Pearce, who is now in full-time charge of the U21s.
"It would have been nice to get on but it was a good experience all round," Blackstock told the Gazette.
"Hopefully he'll give me another chance.
"To call me up into the squad and then not involve me or call me up again would be a bit strange, but you never know. I just hope I do finally get the chance to prove myself on the pitch.
"There's qualifiers coming up at the beginning of September [against Macedonia and Bulgaria] and basically he said my time will come and that I should be patient - which was what I've been doing.
"I heard I was in the squad last Thursday when the manager came in before training and said that me and Michael had been called up.
"I hadn't been expecting it, even if it's something I've been aiming for as a long-term goal. I didn't expect the call to come when it did.
"Lee Camp played for the U21s last season and said it was a good experience. He told us to just go and enjoy it and we did. I really wanted to get out there, but it was still good to be with the lads and get to know a few of them a bit better. Most of them I knew anyway from youth or club level."
Blackstock will mothball his new England tracksuit for now and concentrate on helping Rangers earn their first win of the campaign.
But in common with most Rangers fans, he would prefer it if the off-field uncertainties were sorted quickly.
"I'm not too sure what's happening with this takeover," he said. "If we are being taken over, then the sooner the better.
"It's not an excuse for performances but we could do with knowing where we all stand and getting assurances that we're moving in the right direction.
"It's not something we talk about in the dressing room really, but we know it's in the background. There's no point in trying to guess what's going on, we will have to be guided by what the club tells us."We won't be thinking about any of that this Saturday though - only about putting right last week's result.
"We started so well against Bristol City that the Cardiff result came as a big blow.
"We just didn't play well and it was just one of those days. We should have won in Bristol but against Cardiff, we have no excuses.
"Everyone wants to get back on track now and prove everyone wrong and Burn-ley's definitely a winnable game.
"We haven't done too well there down the years but I wouldn't take a point now if you offered it to me. In fact there's no game I'd go into thinking like that.
"We can beat anyone at any given time and we want that first one under our belts as soon as possible.
"I want to improve on my 14 goals last season and if I do that, it will be a good season for me and the team and might help us get into the top half of the table.
"I don't mind having the responsibility of being the main man for goals - I think all strikers are the same.
"But it won't just be down to me and as long as other players are chipping in with goals as well, we should be all right." Gazette