JOE Mason wants to make a name for himself at Wanderers after getting off to a goalscoring start to his third spell at the club.

It took the on-loan striker just four minutes to raise the roof off the Macron Stadium as he headed the opening goal in Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest.

And Mason aims to repay the warm reception he got from the Whites fans with more of the same this season.

“I got a great reception from the crowd before kick-off and it gave me a real boost,” he told The Bolton News.

“It was really nice to hear – and getting the number nine shirt from the club was a massive thing as well. I’ve never been near that before.”

Mason turned down a handful of other Championship clubs to link-up with Dougie Freedman for a third time after feeling his chances would be limited at Cardiff.

He was also given a new deal in South Wales – but is keen to leave the Bluebirds behind for now to make sure he is a success at Bolton.

“To be honest I’m not looking past this season – I’m a Bolton player in my mind,” he said.

“If I have got a future there, then I’ll think about it next summer.

“If I wanted to stay at Cardiff I could have probably sat on the bench but that wasn’t an option in my mind.

“If coming out on loan to Bolton gives me more games than I was going to get down there then it’s a no-brainer.

“You don’t know what’s going to happen in football, so I’ll worry about it then.”

Mason admits his first loan at Wanderers last season was not as successful as he hoped, but aims to emulate the goals he scored in his second spell alongside Lukas Jutkiewicz towards the end of the campaign.

He linked well with Craig Davies against Forest and feels the partnership could be a profitable one for the Whites.

“I do like playing the little man, big man combination,” he said. “They do all the hard work and I can just pick up the loose balls and get a few shots off.

“I think Craig did really well – he deserves a lot of credit.

“It’s good to be back here. The first spell was tough, to be honest. I didn’t get the goals I wanted and I wasn’t really performing how I wanted to.

“I came back the second time and things fell in line for me. Now I want to improve on that in my third spell.

“I want to kick on in my career now and make a name for myself.”