Any one of his next few games for Bristol City could be Shawn Goater's last.

But the transfer-listed striker still believes he will be at the English Second Division club until the end of the season.

"I take it as I'm going to be here until the end of the season, that's still a good attitude to have,'' said Goater yesterday.

So far there have been no offers for the Bermuda international, although he did hear that scouts were at City's top-of-the-table clash with Watford on Saturday when he scored a spectacular goal in a 1-1 draw.

The Bermudian, whose two-year contract with City expires at the end of the current season, was put on the transfer list last week after he turned down numerous offers on a new contract.

Goater's position is that, at almost 28, he doesn't want to sign a deal that would tie him to the club and commit him to another season in the Second Division should City fail to win promotion.

In strictly a business move, City put Goater on the list knowing that in order to make a big profit they need to sell him while he's still under contract.

If Goater remains at City until the end of the season when his contract expires, he will have the option of moving to another club on a free transfer or signing a new contract.

"That's the way the game has changed with the new Bosman ruling, it tends to be beneficial to players who are doing well over the age of 24,'' explained Goater.

The striker seemingly wasn't distracted by last week's developments as he fired City into the lead against division leaders Watford on Saturday. Goater started his run from the half-way line and outpaced a defender before taking the ball around the goalkeeper Alec Chamberlain.

That goal gave City the lead early in the second half and if they had held on for victory, the three points would have moved them to within a point of the leaders, who equalised five minutes from the end.

"The fans were happy with my performance but they are not happy about the (transfer) situation,'' said Goater, who estimated about 5,000 City fans were in the crowd of 16,072 at Vicarage Road, the biggest in the division this season.

Goater said he would like to think that the goal convinced City followers that his heart was still with the club.

"That goal was so important because if I was to go a few games without scoring then people might believe I was thinking about a move. So for that reason it was good to get on the scoresheet again.'' Goater said a newspaper in Bristol, the Evening Post, yesterday ran a survey inviting readers to voice their opinion on whether he should go or stay.

"The chairman (Scott Davison) has said he hopes no one comes in so that the offer would still be on the table for me,'' said Goater.

"He's a young chairman, only about 37, 38, and is very approachable. He really likes me because I was his first signing and I've done well and he doesn't want me to go.'' Goater signed from Rotherham last year for just 175,000 and while the club would no doubt be happy to collect somewhere in the region of 500,000 or 600,000 for him, the fee could be even higher.

"In the papers they keep quoting around a million (pounds),'' said Goater who will earn a percentage of the fee as he did not ask for a transfer.

City have a 12 point gap over Oldham and Chesterfield and with home games coming up against Chesterfield and Millwall -- fourth and sixth in the standings -- Christmas will be a crucial period for the club.

"If we can get two wins that would set us up for the season,'' Goater said.

"We would also want Watford to beat them as well. The teams we would want Watford to lose against are the teams lower down in the bottom half of the table.'' Yesterday marked the second anniversary of the landmark European Court of Justice ruling on the case of Belgian soccer player Jean-Marc Bosman.

The ruling outlawed transfer fees for out-of-contract players moving between European Union countries and also barred quotas on the number of EU players in teams.

Bosman, 33, took his Belgian club, FC Liege, the Belgian soccer union and UEFA to court after his club blocked his transfer to France's Dunkirk and later suspended him.