EWOOD hot-shot Matt Jansen last night vowed to continue playing through the pain-barrier in a bid to secure Rovers' Premiership safety.

Graeme Souness's 13-goal leading scorer has been playing with a hernia for the best part of three months but the 24-year-old striker will delay surgery until the club are mathematically clear of relegation.

"It's a problem which has been plaguing me for about three months now so I went to see a specialist recently who told me I've got a hernia," said Jansen.

"So I have to have an operation but only when we are safe.

"It's niggly more than anything and as a game goes on it just gets tighter and tighter.

"So, hopefully, we'll be safe in a couple of games and I can then get it done.

"I haven't trained for a couple of days so it's a case of resting it for a bit and then training again.

"I've been having a little jab before games but that tends to wear off after the warm up."

Jansen first began to feel the problem prior to the Worthington Cup final but he has bravely battled on, even to the point of begging Souness not to take him off in certain matches.

"At half-time in Cardiff he wanted to bring me off but I wanted to stay on with it being a Cup final," said Jansen.

"In the end, though, I got the hook 25 minutes later because he told me that the league games were more important."

Jansen shrugged off his fitness problems to play a starring role in last night's win over Southampton, however.

And his selfless performance alongside Yordi up front earned him a glowing tribute off Souness.

"For me Matt Jansen played the best game of football I've ever seen him play," purred the Rovers boss.

"He's got a bit of a hernia problem which has prevented him from doing all the training but he's blessed with natural fitness because his genes have been kind to him and I thought he was our man of the match by a mile -- he was outstanding.

"I think he showed where he wants to be next season because he worked his socks off.

"I know people will say how cute and clever he was in the build up to our second goal but I would look at the amount of work he put in -- I thought he was immense."

Now Jansen believes Rovers need five more points to ensure they will be playing in the top-flight again next season.

"Last year, it was 35 points which stayed up so you can never tell.

"But we've always said we want 41 points and I think another five points will be enough.

"It's always better to be safe than sorry, though."