KEVIN Blackwell is confident that his Sheffield United side will prove they have banished their international week hoodoo when they return to Championship action at Hillsborough on Sunday.
Blackwell, whose board of directors expect to learn this week whether the Court of Arbitration for Sport have granted West Ham leave to appeal against their landmark legal victory over the Carlos Tevez Affair, suffered his worst run of results since taking charge following the last break for World Cup qualifiers.
The United manager blamed a lack of matches for a sequence which saw his players go five games without a win after making a positive start to the new Championship campaign.
But, having recovered their poise, United are preparing to face arch-rivals Sheffield Wednesday in peak form after securing a hat-trick of league victories when they beat fellow promotion hopefuls Bristol City earlier this month.
"We're over that now," Blackwell told The Star. "I don't think it will happen again because we've got our biggest fixture of the season coming up and that will keep everyone focused.
"We know how important facing Wednesday is. Nobody is under any illusion about how the supporters feel about it either, and that means nobody is going to be distracted.
"We lost our rhythm a bit last time, there's no doubt about that. But I've got a really professional bunch here and they'll have learned the lessons. It's almost impossible to switch off when you've got a derby coming up."
With a series of key names, including Gary Naysmith (Scotland) and David Cotterill (Wales) not scheduled to return to Shirecliffe until Thursday afternoon at the earliest, Blackwell will assess their fitness before applying the finishing touches to the tactics he believes will see United avenge last term's loss at the home of Brian Laws' team.
Keith Gillespie, featured for Northern Ireland at the weekend.
Chris Morgan is Blackwell's biggest doubt after straining a muscle on the eve of Bristol City's visit.
The club's lawyers are waiting to hear CAS' views on West Ham's efforts to overturn the verdict of the independent tribunal which ruled they must pay the South Yorkshire club damages for breaking transfer regulations during the closing stages of the 2006/07 campaign.
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