Kean and Alan Pardew were junior coaches together at Reading more than a decade ago, when Tommy Burns was the Royals manager, and if the last five seasons are anything to go by, it will be Kean with the broader smile come the final whistle at St James' Park. A week ago, any prospect of Rovers continuing such a run would have looked bleak, but successive victories over Arsenal and Leyton Orient have seen confidence blossom at Ewood Park. Kean said: "That's what victories do for you. Our performances had been good but we didn't manage to get victories. "Now we are looking forward to the next game and trying to keep the momentum going. "We have a great record up there in the last few years but we have to go about the game in the right manner and be very cautious at the back. "If we come back down the motorway with a win it will have been a great week for us but the important thing is that we respect what Newcastle have done this season. "They are very tight and well organised. I worked with Alan Pardew many years ago at Reading and he will set up them up very well so it will be tough to break them down, but we have the attacking players to do so." Under previous managers Sam Allardyce and Mark Hughes, Blackburn made their name as a functional unit - and teams such as Arsenal feared being on the receiving end of a kicking when they came to Ewood Park, rather than being outscored in a 4-3 thriller. Kean makes no apology for the style revolution, even if he admits it makes Rovers more likely to concede goals. He added: "We have got a lot of attacking players and such is the nature of the lads that we are going to create chances, probably leave ourselves a little bit open now and again because we are trying to push forwards and get goals. "When we get that balance right I think we will see plenty of goals at Ewood and why not some on the road as well? "I think you have to go back to the early '90s to the last time we came back twice to win a game, and not only that but we did it against a club like Arsenal. "If there was any doubt about it, that shows the lads are going to fight for each other." David Goodwillie, Morten Gamst Pedersen and Michel Salgado are all fit for the trip to Newcastle. That means Kean has almost a full squad to choose from with only David Dunn (calf) and Ryan Nelsen (knee) still sidelined.
