JASON Roberts believes there are promising signs that he's starting to strike up a partnership between himself and fellow-striker Roque Santa Cruz.

The pair of them not only got the goals in Rovers' impressive 3-1 win over Wigan Athletic on Saturday, but also linked up well in leading the line.

On scoring his first home league goal of the season, Roberts latched onto a flick on from Santa Cruz to fire low into the back of the net, and the former Wigan international is hoping for more to come.

"I'm starting to get a little bit of an understanding now with Roque and it was a good flick from him and I just got on the end of it and managed to put it in, it was pleasing," said Roberts.

"I takes time, but I can definitely tell the difference after playing the full ninety last week and hopefully long may it continue and we'll continue to score goals and the team will continue to win."

As well as being pleased with his partnership with the Paraguayan, Roberts was heartened by the way the team battled to victory despite being at a player disadvantage for more than half the game.

"I think it was a real team performance, and with us going a man down as well we all worked for each other and we were very selective in what we did rather than playing a little bit with our hearts like we did in the last ten minutes against Fulham and maybe after we went ahead against West Ham. So maybe the penny dropped a bit for us and hopefully we'll continue like that.

"It was a must win game for us and for us to come out and perform like that given the circumstances I thought was outstanding, and it is up to us now to take that into the next game.

"I thought we were outstanding from the front right to the back."