Elliott Bennett spoke to BBC Radio Lancashire regarding the high team spirit in the dressing room and how valuable it would be in helping the club achieve its targets. The midfielder was also in high praise towards the supporters who he believes helped – and will continue to help – the team over the line in the tough away games which Rovers were able to win.
“You only have to look at the away following that we had for the Bradford, Rochdale and Scunthorpe games. It shows that the fans are willing to travel the long distances to support us and obviously it’s all about making sure that we can send them home happy more often than not. Anything you’re doing, when people are looking out for you, wanting you to do well, wanting the best for you, you always try your hardest anyway, but when you’ve got that added support behind you, it obviously helps and when we’re taking as many as we are away from home, it almost makes the away games feel like home games with the atmosphere the fans create and it takes away that little edge that other teams may think they have when they’re playing at home.”
Bennett was reminded that by Christmas, his career at Ewood Park would have reached two years in Rovers’ famous blue and white.
“My first two years here have flown by, they’ve gone really quick. I’ve had a really good time here and obviously things haven’t gone as well as we all would have wanted, but that’s in the past now and all we can do is affect what’s coming up, which obviously is Saturday’s game at Shrewsbury. The longer you’re at a club, the more you start to feel part of the club, the place, everything about it and I’m at that stage now where I really feel part of it, I love playing, I love coming into training every day, I try and have a smile on my face and make people laugh and then when it comes down to training or playing a game, I switch my head on and it’s all about trying to get three points.I’m happy with the fact that I’m in the team, I’m always striving to be better for the team and give that little bit more if I can and try and make a difference but I’m in a much better place than last year due to my fitness.”
Bennett was also questioned as to whether he had offers in the summer to leave the football club and potentially ply his trade in a higher division; however the 28-year old made his stance clear.
“I’m one of these people who, if I do well at a club, I’ll want to stay, but obviously when things don’t go well, I’m not the sort of person who’ll run away and look for the first opportunity to out. I had a good chat with the gaffer at the end of last season and he made it clear that he wanted me to be here this year and I made it clear that as long as I was part of his plans, I would be here giving all I can in order to make sure that this club got back to where it should be, which I believe should be the Premier League. We’ve kept a majority of the players we had last year and we’re looking to right the wrongs of last season. I’ve played in League One before and it catapulted my career. I never think I’m too good for anything; it’s an honour to play football and an honour to play in front of fans. I’m doing what I love, whether it’s in League One, League Two but obviously we all want to play as high as we can which is the aim for this season.
“We’ve done well away from home so far this season. We’ve had the disappointing result at Southend, but bar that we’ve been really solid on the road and have beaten a couple of teams with great home records. It’s another challenge, obviously Shrewsbury are top of the league at the minute and fully deserve to be there. They are on a really good run at the minute as were Bradford when we went there, we’ll be looking to go there and get all three points.”
