DANNY Gabbidon has revealed his intense personal determination to play in Azerbaijan tomorrow.

The young Cardiff City prospect, who is facing a race against time to be fit for the Euro 2004 qualifier, knows sitting out the Baku clash would hand Robert Page the chance of reclaiming that defensive berth alongside Fulham veteran Andy Melville.

Gabbidon's desire matches that of his international mentor Mark Hughes who believes Wales can overcome their 'unfortunate' injury plight and 'professionally get the job done' in this crunch Group 9 match.

Gabbidon, born and raised in Cwmbran, admitted his problematic back, which caused him to miss Cardiff's FA Cup date at Tranmere Rovers last Saturday, was sore after the five-hour flight from Wales to Baku but said: "Hopefully I'll be alright."

He added: "An injury is the last thing I need because I want to stay in the team. "There are so many good players in the Welsh squad at the moment who could take my place and keep it if they do well."

Sheffield United centre-back Page, 28, was Melville's partner until injury forced him out of the August friendly in Croatia which opened the door for Gabbidon to make his entry.

And after faultless performances in championship qualifying wins over Finland and Italy, the 23-year-old has established himself already in Hughes' team.

But Page, who has been capped 25 times, is waiting in the wings to snatch that starting spot back.

Gabbidon has had a busy 48 hours having extensive treatment on his back, just like Wales boss Hughes who could only watch in horror as seven of his men pulled out of this trip into the unknown after the weekend club fixture list.

But the Welsh boss confidently said: "We are not worried about people dropping out, we can handle that.

"We know it will be a difficult game but we've got a lot of players that can come in and do a job" added Hughes.

"It's an opportunity for somebody else to state a claim for a regular first team spot.

"The Italy performance was one of the best Welsh performances in recent times and we are on a good run at the moment, we need to keep that going.

"All of the players know what Wales are about and how we approach games so even though we have lost some key men, the other squad members know what is expected of them.

"We've got to be professional and get the job done.

"You can't always play as well as you would like in games like these because you have to approach the game in a different mentality.

"But we've gone to difficult places in the past and knocked out decent results and that's what we are expected to do again. It's a test of our strength in depth."