After featuring for the whole 90 minutes in Rovers’ impressive 1-0 victory away at Hull City, Elliott Bennett spoke of his delight to the club’s media team, after Rovers were able to secure their first league win of the season. The hard-working midfielder also praised his teammates, as well as the fans, for their joint effort in securing the win.
“Today’s win was massive. It was thoroughly deserved over the 90 minutes, and obviously the lads are buzzing to leave here with all 3 points. I do believe that we should have come away from here with more than just the 1 goal. I should have scored in the second-half, Dacky (Bradley Dack) had a chance in the first-half, as did Arma (Adam Armstrong) in the second period. Regardless of the number of chances we created, however, we’re not going to score every time we’re through on goal in this league, due to the quality of the opposition. David (Raya) has pulled off a fantastic save near the end, that denied them the leveller and it goes to show how much today’s result relied on us performing as a team, which we’re delighted about.
“I should have found the back of the net. I’ve just tried to arrive late on in the box and it’s fell in-front of me. As I’ve come to hit it, I’ve seen the defender come in and he’s slammed into me, which left me in a bit of pain. I should have scored, but the main thing is that we secured the 3 points.
“The timing of the goal from Dacky was important, as we spoke about it before the game began. We had to start fast, which we did, and I think for the first 45 minutes, we were the only team that looked capable of breaking the deadlock, which we thankfully did through Brad. Obviously, the second-half changed the feel to the game, as we expected them to come out and threaten us, whilst at the same time, we still created some opportunities to try and extend our lead.
“Brad is a fantastic footballer. I don’t want to say too much because I don’t want anybody to try and nick him(!) We see the quality he possesses every day in training and not only is he a great footballer, he’s a top man as well. He’s going to go a long way in football, that’s for sure and it’s a pleasure to play alongside him. I never had any doubts about him making the step up into the Championship, and I can’t believe people had question marks over him in this division.
“The team’s adaption back into the Championship has been great and I think we should have all 9 points, rather than just the 5. I had no doubts about us re-adapting back into the Championship because we’ve got a really solid group of lads, which the gaffer added to in the summer and is still looking to add to before September. Returning to this division was just a case of figuring out how we could get ourselves back to the levels that we hit last year, whilst maintaining the same intensity and so far, we have done. We want to get points from every game we play in, and although we could have easily been stood here talking about 9 points from 3 games, we’ll take the 5 that we’ve gained, put them in the bag and rest up before Wednesday’s big home game against Reading.
“We’ve got back-to-back home games now that gives us a great chance to build on what we’ve achieved so far. Yes, we’ve won today, but that delight gets shelved starting tomorrow as our focus switches to Wednesday night’s game. In this league, you don’t get chances to celebrate or to mope around, because the games come so quickly, meaning that you have to constantly be fit and ready to attack the next game.”
Bennett was also asked to comment on the fans, as around 1250 supporters made the trip to the KCOM Stadium to witness Rovers win their first league game of the season.
“Ever since I’ve been at the club, the fans have been amazing. As well as that, ever since the gaffer’s come in, there’s been a different feel around the place, there’s a real togetherness which you can see at the end of the games, as when we win, we go and celebrate it with them because they pay their money and travel up and down the country to watch us, and they deserve the enjoyment. Both us and the fans worked really hard last season and they, as a fanbase, deserve to be in the Championship.”
