ELLIOTT Bennett hopes the win at Bradford City has gone some way to answering the critics, but knows Blackburn Rovers have to reproduce that level of performance on a regular basis.

Tony Mowbray’s men bounced back from a disappointing defeat to Doncaster Rovers by picking up their first three points of the season at Bradford on Saturday courtesy of Dominic Samuel’s header.

The win ended the Bantams’ 31 game unbeaten run in front of their own fans, with Bennett delighted to see Rovers’ hard work pay off.

“When you lose games you open yourself up to criticism, but that was a good reaction to the criticism that we deserved from the first two games,” the Rovers midfielder said.

“That was a bit of a wake-up call, a kick up the backside and hopefully that performance has gone some way to rectifying the first two games but you don’t win the league in three games.

“We have to reproduce those types of performances and add in the extra quality as well.”

Rovers went in to the season as promotion favourites, but suffered defeats to Southend and Doncaster in their opening two league outings.

Bennett added: “We were really disappointed with the start that we had, especially given the high hopes we had for the season.

“To get off to the start that we did was disappointing so there was a relief in the dressing room and a delight at how we played (after Bradford).

“It wasn’t a vintage display, but it was full of the things that you need to bring every week and then the quality has to come out as well.

“I thought it was a really good team performance and one that we are going to have to reproduce on many occasions this season.”

Bennett revealed it had almost been a case of ‘back to basics’ for the players in training.

But he admits the performance at Valley Parade has set the standard for what they must show week-in week-out.

“That has got to be the minimum, the workrate, the teamwork, the flying in to challenges, that has to be the minimum,” he added.

“We have some fantastically gifted footballers at this club and you don’t want to take away from that, but if you don’t do those other things then you don’t get the opportunity to do that.

“We found that in the first couple of games where we tried to play the right way but sometimes you have to do it ugly.

“When we needed to be ugly we did that, but we had chance to play with the ball we did that bit of the game.”

Bennett acknowledges it will be a much stiffer challenge when East Lancashire rivals Burnley arrive at Ewood Park tomorrow in the Carabao Cup second round.

“Wednesday is a completely different game, Premier League opposition, local derby, it doesn’t get much better than that,” he added.

“They are in the Premier League, have Premier League players, we’re in League One and have League One players.

“It’s always nice to pit your wits against players in a higher division but in a local derby it goes even further and it’s one for the fans and the local area.

“I’m sure it’ll be bouncing, the atmosphere will be brilliant and hopefully we can reward the fans and put in a really good performance.”