MARK Hughes has backed Roque Santa Cruz to deliver the goods this Christmas - and reignite Blackburn Rovers' season.

After seven games without a goal, Rovers' Paraguayan predator has returned to form with a vengeance over the last seven days, scoring five times in two games, including a stunning hat-trick against Wigan Athletic.

Amazingly, despite those goalscoring exploits, Rovers still lost both of the games, crashing 5-3 at the JJB Stadium last Saturday, and then 3-2 to Arsenal at Ewood on Tuesday.

However, the one crumb of comfort for Hughes has been the dazzling form of Santa Cruz, who has emphatically silenced the doubters by proving he can score goals at Premier League level.

Hailing the contribution of the 26-year-old, who is now out on his own as the club's leading scorer with 11 in all competitions, a delighted Hughes said: "Roque's been great and I've been really pleased with his form since he walked through the door.

"He did have a spell where he wasn't scoring, but I was delighted with his general play, even in that period.

"Before he came here, the one thing people questioned about him was his goalscoring record.

"People were always harking back to the fact he had a poor run with injuries, and those were the negatives that were being thrown at him.

"But I think he's shown that he can cope with the demands of playing week in, week out; he's missed very few games; and he's scoring goals in a very difficult league.

"So he's put to bed all those people who doubted him."

During eight seasons with his previous club, Bayern Munich, Santa Cruz was never a prolific goal-scorer; the most he scored in a season was eight, in 2001/2.

However, at Rovers, the 26-year-old has already comfortably surpassed that total, and Hughes believes there are plenty more to come from a player who seems to be flourishing now that he is injury-free.

"I'm amazed (we managed to get him) because everyone is seeing what he can offer," said the Rovers boss.

"Maybe we were fortunate, in as much as he'd had a bad run of injuries, and a little spell where maybe people had lost faith in him, and there was also a situation in Munich where they were looking to clear the decks - that's one of the reasons why Roque was made available.

"He has been out there for a long time and a lot of people have looked at him but, as I've said before, sometimes if you look at people too closely or for too long, you end up just seeing negatives rather than positives.

"But I knew he was a good player, and that's why I wanted to bring him here."

Aside from Santa Cruz's goals, Hughes has also been impressed by the striker's appetite for hard work, a quality that has consistently shown through in his performances, even during that seven-match barren spell.

"Roque has been outstanding in that respect," said the Rovers chief.

"He works exceptionally hard and just wants to work for the team, and for himself.

"He's also a great character to have around the place.

"He's always got a smile on his face, and there's no airs and graces about him.

"He's a big star in his own country and he's been at a top European club, but you don't see any edge to him.

"He's just delighted to be working hard and playing regular football."

After just one win in eight games, Rovers need Santa Cruz to keep delivering the goods over the festive period, starting with Sunday's clash against Chelsea, otherwise all of their good work from earlier in the season could start going to waste.

"We need to keep scoring. We are in a spell that is frustrating us at the moment," added Hughes.

"We are giving ourselves too much to do in games.

"At the moment, we are having a spell where every time we make a mistake in a defensive situation, we are getting hurt by it, and that's affecting our chances of winning games."