BLACKBURN Rovers manager Mark Hughes has been dealt a blow ahead of tomorrow's trip to Aston Villa after learning that Jay Bothroyd could be ruled out of action for a month.

The on-loan Perugia striker limped off with a thigh injury in the 24th minute of Tuesday's 1-0 win at Bolton Wanderers.

The 23-year-old underwent a scan yesterday and the results confirmed he has suffered a tear in his thigh muscle - an injury that could rule him out of Rovers' next six matches.

News of Bothroyd's lay-off is a setback to Hughes, particularly at a time when fellow striker Matt Jansen is still recovering from a knee operation.

That means the Rovers boss has only three fit strikers to call on over the next few days in the shape of Paul Dickov, Paul Gallagher and Jonathan Stead.

Thankfully, Dickov will go into tomorrow's game against Villa in red-hot scoring form having found the net twice in three days over the Christmas period.

Now Hughes is hoping Stead can find his shooting boots after going seven months without a goal.

The former Huddersfield striker, who scored in a 2-0 win at Villa last season, looked sharp when he came on in place of Bothroyd on Tuesday.

The 21-year-old struck the bar with a first half header and impressed Hughes with his general work-rate on the day as Rovers won at the Reebok for the first time ever in the Premiership.

"We were desperate for Jon to nick a goal on Tuesday," said Hughes.

"He's struggled of late with his confidence and that's why he didn't start the game but he came on early and had a great opportunity to score.

"He did everything right but it smacked off the bar and that's unfortunately the way things are going at the moment for him.

"But I was pleased with his work-rate and I think he'll be better for that game, so we hope he has a better second half to the season."

Rovers are hoping to record their first back-to-back victories of the season at Villa Park tomorrow.

Tuesday's win at Bolton ended a sequence of draws and Hughes now hopes his players can build on that going into the New Year.

"We've suffered one defeat in 10 games now and we were able to get the three points at Bolton which was important," added the Rovers boss.

"We've been playing very well for a long time now but we hadn't been able to convert the draws into wins.

"We've done that now, though, and the players deserved everything they got.

"Now we're all looking forward to a good second half to the season."