Dane wants to finish season on a high

The dashing Dane has played a key role in settling the survival nerves with three goals in four games and is confident he can keep the run going in the remaining five games.

"Confidence is a big thing when you are a striker," Pedersen said. "When you get the goals it builds the confidence and things are going very well for me at the moment.

"When you don't get the goals, you try to find some confidence from somewhere. I've been playing so many years now that I'm learning to cope with that. It's only the media and the press that is going to write things like 'crisis'."

Pedersen's positive mind-set, allied to his sudden goal surge, will delight Allardyce who values the 28-year-old's all-round contribution and commitment but feels he should be scoring more consistently from the chances that come his way.

Pedersen and Kevin Davies took their respective tallies to eight and nine in the two Easter games that saw Wanderers gain four points that virtually secured their Premiership status. Now the manager is hoping the pair can end the season with a flourish.

"Hopefully Henrik's goals will give him enough confidence to consider himself somebody who can actually score on a regular basis rather than in fits and starts like he has in the three years he has been with us," the manager said.

"Goals are what it's all about for everybody on the front line ... when you play up there you've got to produce. Henrik and Kevin have scored two in two, which is not something we normally get from them. Hopefully they can help us get some more positive results before the end of the season."

Pedersen believes they can continue to prosper as partners rather than rivals in the race for the distinction of finishing top scorer for the season. "Of course you want to score as many as possible but it doesn't matter who is going to be top scorer. The first thing is that we have to be safe, then we need to try to finish as high as we can."