Paul Heffernan has this afternoon extended his loan spell until the end of the season.

The Dublin-born striker has impressed the fans and the management during his initial month at the club, and will now be staying to help push Rovers towards the top six.

However, if Rovers do make the play offs, Heffernan will not be eligible to play, as his emergency loan period will be up.

The 28-year-old scored his second goal for Rovers in last weekend's 4-0 thrashing of Swindon, and hopes he will score plenty more before his loan is up.

He told bristolrovers.co.uk: "I am delighted, I have enjoyed my time down here and am delighted to sign up for the rest of the season. I get on well with everyone at the club, and it was an easy decision.

"There are still a lot of games to play and we need to take each game at a time.

"We are eight or nine points off sixth place, so it is a long way to go, but if you start picking up a few wins, a few teams will start looking over their shoulder, so you never know.

"When you are winning games that breeds more confidence than anything else, and I am sure the lads will be raring to go for the game on Saturday now."

When asked if he had a target for the rest of the season, the striker replied that he just wants to score as many as he can.

He said: "I just go out every game and try and score in every game I am involved in. Me and Jo both got on the score sheet on Saturday, and hopefully we can link up well for the rest of the season and score a lot more goals."

Manager Paul Trollope is delighted to have secured the marksman's services until the end of the season.

He said: "We are pleased to have agreed that, we were pleased with his performance again on Saturday, pleased that he scored another goal and he is forming a good partnership with Jo, they are getting to understand each other, and it is a major boost for us.

"I think he is enjoying his football, and playing regularly. His sharpness is coming back, and hopefully Saturday's performance is a sign of things to come."

Heffernan will not be able to play in the play offs, should Rovers mount a late challenge, but Trolls is hoping his goals can help the club get there.

He said: "That is one of the draw backs, but we are hoping he continues the form on Saturday, and if he does, and if Jo continues to play with him as they did, they have a lot of goals in them, between them, which will hopefully put us somewhere near it."

The future is still uncertain, but both parties will continue to assess each other over the remainder of the season.

Trolls said: "The lad is out of contract and his agent will be working with his best interests at heart, so we will address that when it is time.

"Paul is still looking at us, and we are looking at him, with 12 games still to go it is a good opportunity for both sides to get to know each other, and if his form continues it is something we will look at."