Ray Mathias: Benni McCarthy has been pushing for Blackburn Rovers recall for weeks

Rovers assistant boss hailed the South African as a natural born goal scorer after his last-ditch exploits on Saturday and then predicted there were plenty more ‘magic McCarthy moments’ to come.

McCarthy is yet to make a Premier League start this campaign, but after resuming the role of hero at Ewood, Mathias expects him to cause further selection headaches in the weeks to come.

He said: “Benni can only push for a starting place by doing what he is doing. People can only do that by playing well and training well.

“He is proving that now and certainly he has been knocking on the door with the gaffer.

“Only performances on the pitch will tell us whether he is getting back to his best. He has been working tremendously hard and that is what we are looking at.

“He has a good attitude, is good at his job and is going about doing what he is good at.

“He has proved the last couple of weeks with his training. He has knuckled down and really got himself fit again. He has been away playing a couple of 90 minutes as well in internationals.

“I think he had something to prove, that he is still a good player and he is a good player and he has to keep believing in that. He scored a great goal.”

McCarthy’s task of earning a first-team recall has not been helped by the plethora of attacking options at Paul Ince’s disposal.

Jason Roberts, Matt Derbyshire, Roque Santa Cruz and Robbie Fowler all bring their own strengths to the striking position - but Mathias admits McCarthy is becoming increasingly hard to ignore.

“Half an appearance and he scored a goal so hopefully one full appearance in a match and he can maybe score three,” he said. “That is Benni McCarthy.

“I think when he first came to the football club he scored 20 goals or more and that is what Benni McCarthy is all about.

“He has proved that certainly over the past two to three weeks in training and he has proved he is getting back to his best and hopefully he can come on the pitch and produce that as well.”

Meanwhile, Stephen Warnock said of Benni: “He’s not got many recently but he’s only been getting bit part roles. He’s a class striker.

“Whenever he gets on the pitch, there’s always chances created. He nearly got us the winner against Bolton and he came up with the goods today.

“He’s a natural goal-scorer and once he gets back in the team he’ll come with the goals.”

The once-prolific Rovers striker has been tipped by many to be heading out of Ewood - with a minimal contribution this season up to Saturday.

His dramatic equaliser though proved to the doubters there is life in his Ewood career yet, something Warnock insists was never in doubt among those who know him best.

He said: "Benni's done really well since playing a couple of games in South Africa.

"He's looked very sharp and the lads have noticed a big difference.

"You can see it in the way he's training every day - he's getting back to his best.

"He's been fizzing around the place, he even told everyone he's got his confidence back again.

"At times it's tough when you're in and out of the team. Your confidence can be on a bit of a low, Benni's no different to anyone else.

"He's been at massive clubs and played with some of the best players in the world but if you're not playing you're confidence will be affected.

"The manager has been looking whether to play him or not, he's been looking really well.

"If you play him in the right way he can cause havoc and he's so hard to play against."

Warnock even believes McCarthy's lean spell could work to Rovers' advantage, with many of their rivals underestimating the striker's potential impact.

"I don't imagine he'll let people forget about him. Anyone who does is silly," he said.

"If anyone has forgotten about him, it's because Roque has done so well but that will play in Benni's favour.

"People could switch off him and he'll ghost in and get us goals, so it could work to our benefit."