MARK Hughes reckons Blackburn fans are finally seeing the real Jason Roberts after he scored for the second time in four days as Rovers beat Watford 3-1 at Ewood Park last night.

After the disappointment of Sunday's FA Cup semi-final defeat to Chelsea, Rovers were in desperate need of a lift and Roberts helped to provide it as he and Benni McCarthy gunned down the Premiership's bottom club.

All the damage was done in the opening 32 minutes as Rovers raced into a 3-1 lead, courtesy of Chris Samba's early header and a goal apiece for the two front men, Roberts and McCarthy.

After waiting nine months to get off the mark for Blackburn, Roberts now has two goals in as many games, and Hughes believes he is finally starting to show why he was brought to the club in the first place.

"I enjoyed watching Benni work alongside Jason tonight," said the Rovers boss.

"Jason was unplayable in many parts of the game. He was strong, powerful and, in fairness, Watford couldn't cope with him.

"It's just a pity that we've missed him so much this season.

"It's been a long way back for him. He missed a big chunk of the season with a broken foot and then when he came back, he found his way blocked by the emergence of Matty Derbyshire.

"So he's had to be patient, but every day in training he's looked stronger and more on top of his game.

"He's a big guy and it takes him a little bit longer than most to come back from injury for that reason.

"But he's very much back to the player I saw and wanted to bring to Blackburn (last summer)."

Before last night's game, Hughes had called on his players to put the disappointment of Sunday's FA Cup exit firmly behind them, and that is exactly what they did as Watford, the other beaten semi-finalists, were blown away during a first half blitz.

"It was the perfect response. It was important that we bounced back," said Hughes.

"Obviously, both sides had huge disappointments at the weekend and probably our disappointment was even greater because we ran a very good team very, very close. "So it was a difficult game for both sides but I thought we were excellent, certainly in the first half.

"We were very much on the front foot, we anticipated balls dropping in midfield, we asked questions of the opposition, we created things in the final third, there was good quality into the box, and good goals as well."

After last night's victory lifted Rovers back up to 10th in the Premiership table, Hughes claimed his side still has an outside chance of qualifying for Europe during the closing weeks of the season.

He added: "I still very much feel as though it's on. We've got games against teams that we realistically feel we can beat.

"We've looked at the teams around us and above us and their fixtures are more difficult than ours.

"Most of them have games against teams in the top half, and some are up against the top four teams, so we've looked at that and that's what I base my statement on.

"I think our run-in is decent and we can have a real go at winning every game we've got left."