Former Dundee United manager Peter Houston has expressed his belief that David Goodwillie was not given an opportunity to shine during his time at Blackburn Rovers.

Goodwillie rejoined Dundee United on a six-month loan deal earlier this month, just two years after making the reverse switch for £2m.

A mixture of poor form and instability at Blackburn made Goodwillie's time there a frustrating one, but Houston believes that he was not given a fair crack at the whip.

"The only reason he has a point to prove is because he wasn't picked in the position he was bought for. In the two years before he signed for Blackburn, he was scoring almost every week in the SPL. He was scoring different types of goals, he was working hard," Houston told reporters.

"He's always been a great trainer, he works really hard in games and he earned himself a move to Blackburn in the Premier League. However, at that time, they were a struggling side when he joined them and he never got the opportunity to start 10 games on the trot. If you are going to play one game and get dropped for the next game, you're never going to get a run of consistency.

"I don't think David has been given that opportunity as a centre-forward down in England by any manager who has looked after Blackburn Rovers. I think David, given the opportunity, could still play in England at a very high level in my opinion. But, for United in this period of six months, I'm sure he will score plenty of goals for them."

Goodwillie scored 40 goals in 133 appearances during his first spell for United and just five in 34 matches for Blackburn.