FOR a man who only scored eight goals and made 33 starts in a 16-month Blackburn Rovers career, Jon Stead would appear an unlikely hero to the football neutral.

But, for the Ewood Park faithful, the striker’s short spell in East Lancashire back in 2004 and 2005 ensured him a place in their hearts for ever after making an unforgettable and unexpected impact.

Many Rovers fans still insist it was Stead who saved them from relegation, with his six goals in 13 appearances in his first four months at the club helping a star-studded squad out of a precarious predicament.

He scored just two more goals for Rovers in his only full season at the club and, after a £1.8m move to Sunderland turned sour, has spent the last few seasons unable to repeat the form that will always guarantee him a place in Ewood folklore.

Now one of the game’s journeymen, the 28-year-old’s work rate and eye for goal sees him a fans’ favourite at Championship Bristol City but, having hit the Premier League heights, Stead admits he always thinks about where his Rovers career went wrong.

He said: “I have always thought long and hard about what happened at Blackburn and why I didn’t go on and build on that first season I had. It is difficult to say still.

“At the time I thought I was doing all the right things, I thought I had my feet firmly on the ground and I believed that I would go from there to make a real success of it and to do even bigger and better things.

“From there my career has tippled a bit since hitting those heights at Blackburn and I am never going to get that consistency or confidence back.

“Maybe I didn’t do things right though looking back. Perhaps in my head I thought I had already made it, maybe I took my foot off the pedal and stopped doing the ins and outs that I was doing when I joined the club and the stuff I was doing to rise through the leagues.

“It is difficult for me to look back after though. All I do know is you can never take away what happened for me at Blackburn Rovers.”

While Stead continues his rehabilitation from an ankle injury at Ashton Gate, his former club travel to the scene of one of his greatest moments, Fulham tomorrow, on the back of a four match winless league run.

Stead’s late winner in a thrilling 4-3 win at Craven Cottage is seen by many as a turning point in that 2003/04 season, with him going on to fire priceless winners against Everton and Manchester United to send Rovers to safety, and hopes similar can happen in London tomorrow.

He said: “That Fulham game was a fantastic game, a real memorable momen.

“That back end of the season I remember as the happiest time of my career and I will do for the rest of my life I’m sure. I am never going to beat what happened for me in those few months.

“To score the goals I did with the club in the position it was, well you don’t even dream of things going so well. It was an incredible part of my life and one I will be always thankful to Blackburn Rovers for.

“The Fulham game was a bit of a turning point. To win in such an exciting way reinforced the belief and lifted the confidence. We went on a good run then and from there I think we knew we were going to be okay.

“For me, it was scoring the winner against Manchester United that will always stick with me.

“Blackburn definitely need ‘that moment’ now. I still follow the club and have no doubt they can pick up some results again soon. A win at Fulham could be that turning point like it was for us.”

Graeme Souness brought a raw 20-year-old Stead to Rovers from League One Huddersfield for £1.25m back in February 2004 to the surprise of many.

No one could have expected the part he had to play that season, including the player himself, after describing the move as a ‘whirlwind’.

“I was coming back from an away game with Huddersfield and as I was getting off the coach the manager told me Rovers had had a bid accepted for me,” said Stead.

“I was at the club the next day and the following weekend I was making my Premier League debut and scoring against Middlesbrough.

“Thinking back maybe being thrown into the deep end so quickly actually helped me do what I did in those first few months.

“It is a fantastic, family, friendly club. Even now people around the place ask how I am and how my family are. That just shows what a special club it is.”