I WAS gutted to hear that Matt Derbyshire got injured in last week's victory over Sheffield United.

Having made the breakthrough into the first team, where he scored five goals in seven appearances to earn a first call-up to the England Under 21 side, Matt could hardly have picked a worse time to get injured.

But as they say in football, one man's loss is another man's gain, and Jason Roberts now has a big opportunity to prove he's the guy to partner Benni McCarthy for the rest of the season.

Mark Hughes invested a lot of faith in Roberts when he signed him last summer, and I think the player himself would be the first to admit Rovers haven't seen much of a return on that investment so far.

Two major injuries have been the reason for that, but hopefully those problems are now behind him, and he can start showing the form that made him a very effective player for Wigan.

With Derbyshire out injured and Shabani Nonda flattering to deceive, Roberts must step up to the mark and start scoring goals quickly, otherwise he may well lose his shirt again once young Matty is fit.

Potentially, he and Benni certainly have the makings of a very effective partnership, and we saw glimpses of that during pre-season, when they looked a real handful together.

Benni likes to come short and get involved in the build-up play, whereas Jason likes to run over the top of defenders with his pace and strength.

In theory then, they should perfectly complement each other.

As Rovers' season comes to the boil, they need someone to take the weight off Benni's shoulders up front because he can't be expected to do it all on his own.

All strikers go through barren spells and, thankfully, he hasn't had a major one as yet.

But that time may come later in the season, which is why it's important to have someone else chipping in with goals.

All strikers thrive on goals and I'm sure it will be nagging away at the back of Jason's mind that he's still to open his account for his new club.

However, with Rovers eyeing glory in the UEFA Cup and FA Cup, he can still play a massive role between now and the end of the season.

Tomorrow's trip to Everton is the first of three huge games in the space of eight days.

Rovers are within striking distance of the top six, so it's vital they keep the momentum going at Goodison.

Then next Wednesday comes a difficult away tie in the UEFA Cup against Bayer Leverkusen. A draw in Germany would be a great result.

After that, there's the small matter of an FA Cup fifth round clash with either Bolton or Arsenal.

So there's plenty to play for over the next week or so. What a great time then for Roberts to come good.