The magnitude of the Barclays Premier League games against Manchester United and Hull City that sandwich Blackburn Rovers’s replay with Coventry City makes a mockery of Roque Santa Cruz’s claims that his work at Ewood Park is done.

Just 12 days after the transfer deadline came and went without the Paraguay forward getting his expected move to Manchester City and with Blackburn still deep in relegation trouble, Santa Cruz again made it clear that he intends to leave the club at the end of the season.

Although performances have improved significantly since Sam Allardyce’s arrival in December, Blackburn remain in the bottom three and Santa Cruz, the former Bayern Munich forward, who has struggled with a series of injuries this season, took his tally to just five with his opener, which was his first goal in more than two months, on Saturday.

An £18 million release clause becomes active for Santa Cruz in the summer, but City remain his only real suitors. However Chris Samba, the Blackburn defender whose equaliser in added time earned a replay with Coventry, is sure that the forward will have a significant role in keeping the Lancashire side up.

“Now he is here with us and he is committed to what we have to do,” Samba said. “If he leaves in the summer, it was time for him to go.”

Coventry’s performance was all the more impressive because three players missed the match with a stomach bug; members of the squad were vomiting on the coach and in the changing-room.

The visiting team fell behind when Santa Cruz found the net from a tight angle with less than two minutes gone, but the Coca-Cola Championship side levelled through Aron

Gunnarsson’s thumping drive and took the lead through Michael Doyle with a quarter of an hour remaining before Samba salvaged a draw two minutes into stoppage time.

Blackburn Rovers (4-4-2): P Robinson 6 — D Simpson 6, C Samba 7, Z Khizanishvili 6, G Givet 6 — C Villanueva 7, Tugay Kerimoglu 7 (sub: K Andrews, 65min 6), S Warnock 6, D Dunn 7 (sub: K Treacy, 71) — R Santa Cruz 7, J Roberts 6 (sub: B McCarthy, 78). Substitutes not used: M Bunn, R Nelsen, V Grella, A Doran. Booked: Samba, Khizanishvili.

Coventry City (4-5-1): A Marshall 6 — I Osbourne 6, J McPake 6 (sub: S Dann, 46 7), E Ward 7, D Fox 7 — J Henderson 7, G Beuzelin 4 (sub: L Best, 53 6), A Gunnarsson 7, M Doyle 7, F Eastwood 6 — C Morrison 7. Substitutes not used: M Hall, R Simpson, K Thornton, A Cain. Booked: Beuzelin, Eastwood.