Kevin Blackwell has paid a huge tribute to Darius Henderson after the big striker smashed a hat-trick at Bristol and propelled himself up the Championship's leading scorers lists on Saturday.

Three left-footed finishes ended the home team's long unbeaten home record and, the United manager believes, underlined the success of his judgement in bringing the player to the Lane:

"There were people who questioned the signing of Darius but I knew what he has got as a footballer.

"He is more than a targetman - his touch on the ball is not recognised enough - but to get ten goals by this stage of the season is great and he thoroughly deserves all the glory he is getting after his hat-trick.

"He is a leader and on Saturday Gary Johnson put Jamie McCombe on him to try and subdue him. McCombe is about six feet five inches tall and those sort of contests are easier for defenders than the strikers but Darius dominated him.

"Darius takes a terrific battering from defenders but he always gives his all and on his day I believe that he is the best centre-forward in the Championship. If he was up for sale I would think that clubs who could afford him would want him.

"I told him that I think that he can get 20 goals this season - his previous best is 15 - and we will be pushing him to go for that. His third goal was some finish, we all thought it was going across goal and beyond the post but it finished up just inside."

Blackwell also talked about the problem he faced in choosing between Mark Bunn and Carl Ikeme in goal

"It was a very tough decision and Mark was very unlucky because he had his best game for us against Peterborough the week before.

"But a manager is paid to make the hard decisions like that and I hope that it was justified by what happened at Bristol City."