ROVERS new boy Peter Whittingham insists he is up for the fight in League One as he targets a successful start to his Ewood Park career.

The midfielder put pen to paper on a two-year deal earlier this week and is relishing getting started at Rovers.

The former Aston Villa man, who has spent his entire career in the top two tiers in England, wants to see Tony Mowbray's men display plenty of fighting spirit as they try and bounce back to the Championship at the first attempt.

He said: “We're under no illusions how hard it's going to be. It's a really hard league, as is the Championship, as everyone saw last year, but it's up to us.

“As it is with any team, I think togetherness is key.

“It’s League One, it's going to be tough, it's about going to the places where you don't want to go on a Tuesday night and grinding out results."

Whittingham was attracted to Rovers in part due to Mowbray's message of passing football but the former Cardiff man knows there will be times where points must come before performances.

He added: “It’s everyone mucking in. If you're not having a good 10-20 minute spell, then you all just muck in, you try not to concede and then you are going to have your spell in the game.

“It's a 90-minute game at the end of the day and you are going to have your spell, so it's a case of just grinding out maybe their 15-20 minute spell and scoring when you're on top.

"It might be a case of for a 20-30 minute spell you don't play much football, but it's a case of grinding it out and getting the 1-0s that will take you back up.

“It's what we want to do, it's what we need to do and we need to get out of here.”