LIAM Feeney admits he faces a fierce battle to be named in Blackburn Rovers’ starting lining-up this season despite being one of Owen Coyle’s summer signings.

Coyle made the winger one of his top targets after taking over the Ewood Park hotseat at the start of last month.

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And the winger rejected the chance to sign a permanent deal with Ipswich Town to become Coyle’s fourth capture.

But Feeney, who is in his second spell with the club, is not expecting to walk into the side that takes to the field against Norwich City in the Championship opener on August 6.

Not when he also has competition from Ben Marshall, Craig Conway, Elliott Bennett, Connor Mahoney and John O’Sullivan on the wing.

Feeney said: “The competition we have is going to be good for the squad.

“Everybody is going to be pushing each other for a shirt and whoever gets it in that first game is going to have to work hard to keep it because the lads who haven’t will be really pushing for it.

“I’m sure it’s going to be like that all over the pitch because we do have strength in depth but, yes, in those wide areas, we look strong.

“And, like I said, that can only be good for the squad.”

Feeney had a short spell on loan with Rovers at the back end of the 2013-14 season.

That side went on to finish two points and two places outside of the play-off places in eighth.

Rovers have failed to improve on that position in the last two campaigns, finishing ninth and 15th.

But Feeney, speaking after he impressed in Rovers’ 1-0 friendly win over SV Ried on Saturday, said: “I think the gaffer has added to the quality that was already here.

“Today was a good start and hopefully we’re only going to get better. It was our first game, we’ve got a few more to come and a few more weeks to put into practice the gaffer’s ideas and what he wants from us.

“But it was a good start from us and it’s always nice to dust off the cobwebs. Training can help you so far but there’s nothing better than games.

“I thought it went well, I thought I performed well, as did all the boys, and hopefully it’s something we can build on in the coming games going into the start of the season.”

Rovers returned to Brockhall yesterday after being given 24 hours off following their training camp in Austria which culminated in the victory over Ried.

“It was pretty hard,” said Feeney of the series of double and triple sessions, more of which are scheduled for this week.

“It was pretty much, eat, sleep, train, repeat. You’d train, have a bit of food, train again, have a bit of food, and then train again, and by that time you are so tired you just want to go straight to bed.

“But we had a fun day when we got up the mountain which we’ve been training under all week, and we did white water rafting, which was a bit of a laugh, and got the banter going with the boys.

“All in all it was a good week. It gave us new lads a chance to bed in a bit easier.

“It can be hard when you’re living in each other’s pockets, you’re constantly with the boys, but everyone has got on and everyone had worked for each other. That bodes well for the season.”