Matt Jansen tells ANDY NEILD about a nightmare couple of years, and how the future looks bright under Mark Hughes. . .

BLACKBURN Rovers' goal hero Matt Jansen paid an emotional tribute to Mark Hughes after he emerged from a personal nightmare to score the winner against Portsmouth on Saturday.

Jansen bagged his first senior goal since finding the net in a UEFA Cup tie with Genclerbirligi almost a year ago.

And he was quick to thank Rovers' new manager afterwards for having the faith to name him in his squad in the first place.

Jansen had been cast into oblivion under Graeme Souness and the previous regime to the point where he feared he would never play for the Rovers first team again.

But a change of manager has given the popular striker fresh hope for the future and he seized his big chance to impress with both hands at the weekend by grabbing the goal that got Hughes's reign off to a winning start.

"I just needed someone to believe in me," said Jansen.

"I was obviously out of favour under Graeme Souness and he had made his mind up about me.

"It was hellishly frustrating, to be honest, but I didn't want to go anywhere else.

"The club have always been fantastic with me and so have the fans as well, so I wanted to give it another shot.

"There were times when I thought 'I'm never going to play for Blackburn again' but thankfully I did bide my time and hopefully this will be a turning point and I will move forward."

Jansen's career had plummeted to such a low under Souness that he was resigned to spending his Saturday afternoons watching the football results on television during the latter stages of his reign.

But on Saturday, Jansen got back to the business of making headlines rather than reading them.

"It's been a nightmare," said Jansen.

"When I was out of the team I was still coming to home games on Saturdays but when the team were away, I'd usually be sat at home watching Sky Sports News, looking at all the results and feeling frustrated.

"My wife kept saying 'this just winds you up. Why don't you turn it off and check the result later?'

"But I'd just sit there and get grumpier and grumpier.

"Hopefully, now I've turned that corner and I can push on from here.

"I was delighted when Sparky was named as our new manager and I was just hoping that I'd get my chance.

"It's a fresh start for everyone so now it's a question of working hard and applying ourselves to get into the teams that he picks."

Jansen only learned of his place on the bench at 1.45pm on Saturday.

Then his big chance came midway through the second half when Hughes sent him on in place of the disappointing Morten Pedersen and he quickly rewarded his new boss with the winning goal.

"I was as nervous as Hell because it had been so long and a lot was expected of me," said Jansen.

"But I managed to get the ball down in the box and unleash one and thankfully it found the net.

"Now I've got to build on that and hopefully he'll give me the run of games I need."

As for Rovers' long-term prospects under Hughes, Jansen is optimistic about the future.

"He was the players' choice, the fans' choice and obviously the board's choice.

"He's been a fantastic player and a few of us played alongside him a couple of seasons ago.

"His experience in the game is second to none and hopefully some of that has rubbed off on him in his managerial career.

"You've only got to look at how he got Wales playing to see that it has and let's hope he can get us playing like that, too."