JASON Roberts is determined to finish his annus horribilis' on a high by firing the goals that could take Blackburn Rovers back into Europe.

By his own admission, Roberts' first year at Blackburn has been a major disappointment, mainly because a couple of cruel injury set-backs have restricted him to a handful of starts for his new club.

But after exploding back into the picture with two goals and two starts during the course of the last six days, Mark Hughes' forgotten frontman is now looking to provide a late flourish to the season, which could see Rovers sneak into the UEFA Cup via the back door.

The former Wigan striker, whose nine-month wait for a goal finally came to an end against Chelsea last Sunday, said: "It hasn't been a good season for me.

"It's hard coming into a new club and then not being involved. But hopefully now I can have a good end to it.

"It was a long wait for my first goal but if I'd played more games I'm sure it would have come sooner, so it's been frustrating.

"My aim now is to stay in the side and get a few more goals and show everyone what I am all about.

"There's plenty still to play for and if we go on a run and get some results we'll see where it takes us at the end of the season."

Signed from Wigan for what seemed like a bargain £2.5 million fee last summer, Hughes was expecting big things from Roberts this term, believing his physical approach would perfectly complement the silky skills of Benni McCarthy in a new-look Rovers attack.

However, three games into the new season, Roberts suffered a muscle injury in training, which kept him sidelined for the whole of September, and when he finally forced his way back into the team, at West Ham on October 29, he lasted just 29 minutes before he was struck down again, this time suffering a broken metatarsal as a result of a forceful challenge from Jonathon Spector.

That resulted in Roberts spending a further three months in the treatment room, and when he eventually re-emerged at the beginning of February, he then found his way into the first team blocked by Matt Derbyshire, who, in the meantime, had brilliantly seized his chance.

It was somewhat surprising, then, when Hughes dropped Derbyshire for Roberts last weekend, believing the latter's hold-up play with his back to goal would pose more of a problem to John Terry and Co than Derbyshire's searing pace in behind.

As it transpired, that proved to be an inspired move by Hughes, because Roberts not only made a nuisance of himself up front, he also scored his first goal in a Blackburn shirt at the 20th time of asking.

He then followed that up with another in Wednesday night's 3-1 victory over Watford - a result which rekindled Rovers' hopes of qualifying for Europe via the Intertoto Cup.

Now Roberts is looking to continue that streak at Fulham tomorrow, where another victory against a side fighting for its life would leave Rovers handily placed for the run-in.

"We won't start taking our foot off the gas now," said Roberts.

"One of the reasons I came to this club was to play in Europe, and if that means going through the Intertoto to get there then we'd do that.""