BLACKBURN Rovers striker Paul Dickov has urged fans to 'keep the faith' following the club's frustrating start to the season.

Rovers currently find themselves second from bottom in the Premiership table after taking just two points from their opening four matches.

But Dickov insists the picture could have been so much rosier had Rovers' luck not deserted them in the recent games against Southampton and Manchester United.

Two controversial refereeing decisions in the dying seconds of both matches cost Graeme Souness's side an extra three points, which would have catapulted them into a more comfortable mid-table position.

But instead Rovers are still looking for their first win of the season and Dickov believes a change in fortunes is just around the corner.

"It's been a bit of a disappointing start," said the 31-year-old, who's set to line-up for Scotland against Spain in Valencia tonight.

"When you look at the fixtures before the start of the season, the one thing you want to do is get off to a good start.

"But we're not going to get too down about our current situation because we're only four games into the season and if you take bits out of each then there are times when we have played really well.

"We've just got to stay confident, keep our heads up, and keep working hard because if we keep on doing the right things then the points will come, I'm pretty confident of that."

That elusive first win of the season was just seconds away last Saturday as Rovers led Manchester United 1-0 thanks to a sublime strike from Dickov.

But United then grabbed a controversial late equaliser when Alan Smith scored in the 94th minute to shatter Rovers' brave resistance and Dickov said it took a while to come to terms with the acute disappointment of seeing two precious points slip away.

"We were disappointed. To be 1-0 up and then concede an equaliser in the fourth minute of injury time is pretty gutting and it took a while to sink in," said Dickov.

"Obviously, Brad Friedel was magnificent and he kept us in it but up until the sending off, they had a lot of play without really creating an awful lot.

"So all in all it was disappointing but that just shows we must be getting there if we are disappointed at taking a point off Manchester United."

If the end result was disappointing, then the one crumb of comfort to come out of the game from Dickov's point of view was a goal on his full home debut.

The former Leicester striker has now scored twice for his new club in the opening four games and he's pleased with the way he's settled in at Ewood.

"I was delighted with that," said the Scot.

"To score on my first full start at home was a real boost and I think it's important for a striker when he joins a new club that he scores goals early.

"Thankfully, that's happened for me and it's great on a personal level.

"I'm just disappointed that we've only taken one point after all our efforts during the last three games."

In the meantime, Rovers face another daunting test at Newcastle on Saturday week, straight off the back of difficult games against United and Arsenal.

Dickov added: "When you see the fixtures at the start of the season and it says we've got Arsenal, Manchester United and Newcastle straight after each other you do think 'Blimey. What have we got here?

"But these are the games you look forward to as a player and it's one of the reasons why I wanted to stay in the Premiership.

"If you can't enjoy playing against the Arsenals, Manchester Uniteds and Newcastles of this world then there's something wrong with you."