CONFIDENT Shane Duffy says Blackburn Rovers should fear no team in the ‘crazy’ Championship.
Instead he believes sides should be scared of Rovers as they bid to extend their unbeaten run to seven matches with victory at Brighton & Hove Albion today (3pm).
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“The league is crazy, there are about 10 teams who want to win the league, never mind the play-offs,” said Duffy, a £400,000 transfer deadline day arrival from Everton.
“But I haven’t been scared by anyone. Obviously there are a lot of games to go, so we’ll see, but I’m confident and the lads are confident that we can beat anyone.
“And we’re confident by the time May comes we will be there or thereabouts.
“The form we have showed recently has been good and we’ve got some quality players who are definitely made for the top of the league.
“Teams fear us and know that it’s not going to be an easy game when they play Blackburn Rovers.
“And, if they do beat us, they’re going to have to work hard for it.”
Rovers have not lost since September 30.
And Duffy insists their belief has not been shaken by Tuesday’s 2-2 draw at Millwall who recovered from two goals down and the sending off of defender Andy Wilkinson to snatch a point.
“For 60-70 minutes it was comfortable, one of the most comfortable games we’ve had in a while, but we let it slip,” said the giant centre back, who has been named in the provisional Republic of Ireland squad for their crucial Euro 2016 qualifying clash with Scotland and friendly with the USA this month.
“But we said on the way back you never know it could be a vital point to get us where we want to be at the end of the season.
“Millwall away is a tough place to go and to be 2-0 up, anyway, just shows how far we’ve come and shows that we are a good team and that we are strong.
“For 20 minutes we let ourselves down but it’s still a point and we’re confident we’ll put it right on Saturday.”
Duffy opened the scoring on Tuesday with his first goal for Rovers.
“It was going to be a great night until their two went in,” said the 22-year-old.
“It was just a relief for me to see one go in because I’ve probably had chances in every game.
“The gaffer has been on my back to get on the scoresheet and now I’m finally off the mark, hopefully I can get a few more.
“And at 6ft 5in, if I don’t score, I might as well be on the bench.”
Rovers boss Gary Bowyer is also adamant his eighth-placed side, who are just four points off top spot, will have put the events of Tuesday night to the back of their minds once they take to the field at the Amex Stadium this afternoon.
He said: “Will I have to pick them up? Not really.
“They’re an honest bunch and they assess the game and analyse the game honestly.
“As we’ve said we were all disappointed with how we played after we went 2-0 up but we’ve since added it up and we had four or five opportunities to win the game after they made it 2-2.
“So while were disappointed, it was also a hell of a reaction from the lads. They went on to try and win the game and credit to them for that.
“So I don’t think they’ll need picking up.”
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