ROVERS new boy Alan Mahon is planning to help Blackburn sustain their promotion challenge before settling his long-term future.

Mahon has moved to Ewood on loan from Sporting Lisbon until the end of the season.

And his primary goal is helping Rovers back towards the Premiership.

He said: "The reason I came was to play and take it from there. I have a contract at Sporting and I didn't want to just leave Sporting and say 'I didn't have a good crack at it.'

"If I do well in Blackburn I'll have to weigh up the options. But at the moment I'm just thinking about playing and being involved."

The former Tranmere midfielder was keen to play first-team football after seeing his opportunities limited in Portugal and is delighted that Rovers have given him the chance.

He added: "If you're in the squad you don't play reserve team so you don't get an awful lot of football and you find your fitness goes down.

"I've got a big contract out there so I thought by coming here back to England for six months would do me good and thank God as big a club as Blackburn took me on loan. My agent said something was going on and as soon as I found out it was Blackburn it was an easy decision.

"The players here all top-class. A lot of them are internationals so I'm going from one good team to another."

Mahon made an instant impression as a substitute at Burnley last week and should be involved again at Crystal Palace tonight when Rovers look to close in further on the top two.