Elliott Bennett says the expectancy level within the Rovers dressing room helped drive the club to promotion last season.

Rovers were favourites to go up at the start of the season but trailed the automatic promotion spots by 12 points at the start of October. But two long unbeaten runs saw them secure an impressive return to the Championship at the first attempt with two games to play.

And Bennett says the expectations placed on the squad by manager Tony Mowbray and by the players themselves mirrors that of the Rovers supporters

“It’s the biggest expectancy I have had in a dressing room,” Bennett said.

“Fans are massively important and it only goes to show with the away followings we had which had been phenomenal.

“There has been that expectancy in the dressing room and what the manager demands of us to give to this football club is the biggest I’ve been involved in.

“Most of the fans here have only seen Blackburn in the Premier League and in the Championship these last few years so to see Blackburn in League One, they were expecting big things, to go straight back up at the first time of asking and that just mirrors what the dressing room was saying.

“We were under no illusions that it would be easy and we worked hard everyday in training to make that happen.”

Rovers had a slow start to the season, losing their opening two league games against Southend United and Doncaster.

A 1-0 loss at Oldham on October 14, meant Rovers had lost four of their opening 11 matches.

But Bennett says there was always a belief in the squad that they would get it right.

He added: “We always knew what we’d got in the dressing room, you only need to go down the list of the squad.

“We knew what we were capable of, we had a really, really bad start and we all admitted that it took a lot to adapt from last year when we were down the bottom end of the table and every win was a scrap and a fight.

“To come down a league and everyone saying ‘Blackburn are going to get promoted’, nothing is a given to you.

“You have got to match the work ethic and workrate and be positive and then you hope your quality shows through and I think we showed we’re more than capable of doing the side of the game that maybe isn’t the most glamorous but when we do that it allows the quality to show through.”

Rovers were seen by most as the big fish in the third tier, with Mowbray believing opponents visibly raised their game, particularly at Ewood Park.

And Bennett added: “I’ve been in teams where you are not the biggest club in the league and you want to do everything you can to beat them (the biggest team) and knock them off their perch and there will be players playing for other clubs, and no disrespect to any other club in the league because they are in the league on merit, but when players play against Blackburn they will want to do well. You are thinking to yourself ‘I want to do well because their manager might like me,’.

“It’s no secret, you want to do well and wherever you are you want to play at the best club at the level you’re at.

“After a bit of an adjustment period at the start of the season the belief in what we’re doing has come through.”

Bennett has played a key role in Rovers’ turnaround in fortunes, with his versatility proving crucial. He was a player on the fringes of the squad under Owen Coyle but has been a virtual ever present since Mowbray took charge in February 2017.

The Rovers fans have had little to cheer since relegation from the Premier League in 2012 and because of that Bennett believes it makes the successes of this season all the sweeter.

And he believes the players and fans alike should bask in the glory before the challenges of next season begin.

“It’s a fantastic achievement by everyone at the football club and we’re just delighted that we can celebrate that and share it with the fans,” the 29-year-old added.

“There’s been quite a few downs over the last few seasons and the supporters have had to go through quite a bit.

“But times like this make it all worth it as a football fan and I’m just delighted to be part of this football club and this team and thankful that we could finally give something back to the fans.

“For now, I think everyone connected with Blackburn Rovers has got to enjoy this success and then momentum plays a massive part in football and we’ll be working hard during pre-season and hope that we can really push on again next year.

“First of all, I think everyone has just got to enjoy this moment.

“Bad times come and good times come as well, and you’ve got to really relish the good times and we’ll see what we can do next year.”