Friendly gives Hearts midfielder chance to impress Jefferies against club he grew up with

Having shared dressing-rooms and training fields with David Dunn and Brett Emerton as a youth player in Lancashire, Ian Black is eager to confront his former club even in the relatively serene scenario of a pre-season friendly.

In conversation, it isn't difficult to deduce the feeling that the midfielder wants to prove a point. Black was released from his trainee contract at Ewood Park six years ago and returned north to spend five seasons with Inverness Caledonian Thistle before joining Hearts in July 2009.

He isn't bitter about how his career has evolved, for it has deposited him at the club he has idolised since childhood.

In that sense, with excitement building ahead of Jim Jefferies' first full season in charge, things could not be better.

Black's competitive instinct is undiminished, though, and a small part of his inner being would like to show Blackburn how he has matured since those teenage outings in their youth team.

Dunn and Emerton may or may not recognise him, but you sense he won't stop to fret either way.

Tomorrow he can kill two birds with the one proverbial stone. A convincing performance will virtually guarantee the 25-year-old a starting slot against St Johnstone on SPL opening day.

With Eggert Jonsson and Ryan Stevenson suspended, Jefferies' options are restricted and Black's reliability and experience could be crucial.

Simultaneously, a good display could also make one or two members of the Blackburn board wonder about the decision to release him all those years ago.

Manager at the time was a certain Graeme Souness, who was sacked three months after Black departed.

"Ever since I left I've wanted to play Blackburn in a pre-season friendly," said Black. "It will be a good test for us and obviously for myself having played for them.

"It was a good club and a good grounding for me. I enjoyed the experience but, when I got the chance to come back up to Inverness, I knew it was the right thing to do.

"David Dunn was breaking through when I was there and there are one or two others still around, although I'm not sure if they'll remember me.

"Blackburn's players will be of a high standard, we know that because they are an English Premier League club.

"The level of football down there is high but I'd like to give a good account of myself.

"You want to prove a point every time you play and tomorrow will be no different for me. It will be a good chance for me to show what I can do.

"The manager said at the start of pre-season that everyone will get their chance. It's up to you to take it when it comes along. Blackburn is the last game for us before the league starts so I think everyone will be keen to play and give it their best with St Johnstone in mind."

The ease with which Wolverhampton Wanderers coasted through their visit to Edinburgh on Tuesday evening exposed the deficiencies of the SPL in comparison to its English counterpart. Black and his colleagues played second fiddle for much of the evening against a club which finished three places clear of relegation last season. The positive slant is that they should be better for the experience. Blackburn will offer a similarly exhausting test of Hearts' new season credentials with seasoned campaigners like Morten Gamst Pedersen - the Norwegian David Beckham - and El Hadji Diouf expected to feature.

In fact, it would be reasonable to assume that they might ask a few more searching questions having finished tenth compared to Wolves' 15th last year.

Sam Allardyce, the Ewood Park manager, is daft on statistics and frequently plays percentage football in order to follow the most likely route to success.

For Jefferies, it's all relative. Right from Hearts' Tuscan training camp in Italy to this final pre-season encounter, he has planned every aspect of the summer preparations.

The desire to test his squad in high-octane matches played at a high tempo led to Wolves and Blackburn being identified for home friendlies. If Hearts can pick up even a fraction of their opponents' awareness and ball retention skills for domestic use, then it will all be worthwhile.

"Give the ball away easily against these teams and we'll get punished," opined Jefferies. "If you sit off people then they will make you suffer.

"These teams play at a high tempo so that's what we've got to do.

"You have to close people down, work hard and be on your toes because the opposition will make you on your toes. If you aren't, you'll get done.

"That's why you take these friendlies because the teams are at a different level and you have to step up again.

"Our players will benefit from the work they put in against Wolves on Tuesday. Nobody can turn round and say they didn't try, they tried very hard. The work rate from that game will help their fitness if nothing else."

Ability aside, it was impossible not to be taken aback by the sheer size of the Wolves players on Tuesday.

Even the smaller members of Mick McCarthy's side stood over 6ft and consequently overpowered the likes of Black and David Templeton in the Hearts midfield.

Blackburn could be even more imposing.

"They have even bigger players so hopefully we will have a couple of our boys back," said Jefferies. "David Obua might be struggling but we would like to have Ismael Bouzid and Eggert Jonsson playing tomorrow if at all possible."

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