BLACKBURN Rovers striker Jonathan Stead believes one more win may well be enough to secure the club's Premiership status for another season.

Saturday's 1-0 victory over Leicester City at Ewood saw Rovers open up a five-point gap on the bottom three with just four games of the season remaining.

And though Stead is keen not to tempt fate, the 21-year-old feels a third successive victory at Everton this weekend could well be enough to banish Rovers' relegation fears once and for all.

A sense of relief was the overriding emotion in Rovers' dressing room on Saturday evening as Graeme Souness and his players celebrated a first home win in almost five months at the expense of the struggling Foxes.

It rounded off an excellent week for Rovers which had started with a thrilling victory at Fulham last Monday night.

Those back-to-back wins have helped to restore fragile confidence among the players and now Stead is hoping the team can keep that momentum going during what could be a testing run-in.

"It was a massive relief. To win (on Saturday) was a huge bonus for us," said Stead.

"We've now won back-to-back games and although we are still not safe, it's looking a lot better.

"I don't want to put a curse on anything but one more win might be enough.

"We've just got to concentrate on our own performances and try not to worry too much about what's going on around us.

"A point or possibly three on Saturday at Everton would be brilliant.

"But we are feeling confident now and we believe that we'll be in the Premier League again next season."

Stead believes the players' determination to stay in the Premiership was the telling factor in Rovers' turning the corner.

Successive defeats against Portsmouth, Liverpool and Leeds had increased the pressure on the club.

But the players have since responded with two spirited performances to underline exactly what division they want to be playing in next season.

"In the last two games, we've really worked hard, and we've shown the belief that we want to be in the Premier League, and we believe we can be in the Premier League next season because that's where we've got to be," added Stead.

Manchester United will be without star midfielder Paul Scholes when they face Rovers in the Premiership at Ewood on May 1.

The England midfielder was hit with a three-match ban, which starts immediately, at a disciplinary hearing in Manchester yesterday for striking Middlesbrough midfielder Doriva in the Premiership meeting at Old Trafford on February 11, an incident not seen by referee Paul Durkin.