THERE’S been a lot more pressure on Jordan Rhodes’ shoulders this season – and I’ve been so impressed by the way he has taken it on.

With Rudy Gestede gone that’s 20 goals missing from the side and that means there is a real need for Jordan to get 20 or more once again.

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But, after scoring seven goals in his last five games, it looks like he is well on his way to reaching that.

As a striker I always liked someone alongside me who could also score goals. It took the pressure off me and it was good to have someone you could compete with to be top scorer.

Jordan certainly had that last season when Rudy was at the club.

But with Rudy gone, I think in a strange way Jordan is relishing being the main man.

If you’re the main striker there is a danger you can sit back, rest on your laurels and think, ‘my name’s going to be on the team sheet no matter how I play’.

But Jordan’s not like that. You can see he wants to improve, and he is improving, and I’m delighted he’s been named the Championship’s player of the month.

He’s in one of those runs which, as a striker, you just love.

Whatever you do, or wherever you run, the ball just seems to find you. You make runs to the near post, the ball comes to you, and it flies in, even if you miss-hit it.

You make the same runs when you’re not scoring and more often than not the ball goes to the back post, or you hit it cleanly and it flies wide.

We can only hope that his fine form continues – as if it does, Blackburn will continue to climb up the table.

Not that it was a one-man show against Ipswich on Saturday. It sounded like a real team effort.

I read what Mick McCarthy had to say after the match. He was very complimentary about Blackburn and that should be a big pick-up for Gary Bowyer.

Blackburn may not have had the best of starts but when a fellow manager says that about your team, especially one as good as Mick, you’ve got to be pleased.

And I’m sure Gary has been pleased with what he has seen over these last few weeks.

It’s just a shame, then, that there’s no match this weekend.

I know when we were on a run you couldn’t wait for the next game to come around.

But I think these last few weeks have proved that if Blackburn can match or beat their opponents for work-rate, then they will win more than they lose because they’ve got the players to cause problems and, in Jordan, a natural goalscorer.