Davies wants to fill void left by Heskey

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Kevin Davies says he is not overawed about being involved in the England set-up and believes he can fill the void left by the retired Emile Heskey.

Davies, 33, was a shock call-up for Tuesday's Euro 2012 qualifier against Montenegro after Fabio Capello saw a number of his other striking options fall out of contention with injury.

Heskey, who has been criticised for his goalscoring record with England but lauded for his unselfish link play, also reportedly turned down a chance to reverse his retirement to feature in the match.

Now Bolton striker Davies is ready to stake his claim for the role.

"I'm confident in my own ability. I always felt I could do a job at this level and it just never quite happened for me for one reason or another," he said.

"I trained today and I didn't feel overawed at all. There were a few nerves beforehand but the lads have been welcoming.

"The age thing is not a concern of mine, I feel as good as I have done since my time at Bolton began. Hopefully I can make an impression and play some part.

"Obviously people have likened my playing style to Emile and he's retired now.

"We've always been compared, we've got a lot of similarities in the way we played the game.

"Fortunately for him he's the one who's played for England all these years and I think he's done a good job."

Davies also dismissed claims from Danny Murphy that the managers of Bolton, Stoke and Wolves were to blame for the current spate of bad tackles in the Barclays Premier League.

Murphy said yesterday: "Your manager dictates what your players do and how you behave.

"You get managers who are sending their teams out to stop other teams playing, which is happening more and more - the Stokes, Blackburns, Wolves.

"They can say it's effective and they have got to win games but the fact is the managers are sending out their players so pumped up there is inevitably going to be problems.

"Every ship has a captain and that's the manager who is in charge."

But Davies responded by saying: "I haven't seen the comments but there is a lot going around at the minute and there has been a couple of bad injuries which is not nice to see.

"I can only say about my team and personally I have always been labelled with the aggressive side of it.

"I have picked up a few yellow cards which is fair enough but in terms of red cards there has been nothing for me in years.

"In terms of players at Bolton, and the way we play the game, we never have played like that. We try to win the game in the best way we can, but no manager has ever said you are playing a certain side and you need to rough them up a bit.

"If anything our players are little bit too honest.

"I play the game a certain way and with the speed of the game today you are going to be a little bit out in a few tackles.

"I take a lot of hits myself but I don't complain about it. It's a part of the game I enjoy. The physical side is going out of football at the moment."