John Eustace has praised the resilience of Blackburn Rovers' squad which has been tested in their run of seven games without a win.
Rovers remain entrenched in the relegation battle at the bottom of the Championship after failing to beat Swansea City, Millwall or Plymouth Argyle in the last three matches.
Eustace is still working for his first victory since taking over but nine games in 28 days has not been ideal conditions. The group have been afforded very little time to work on the training pitch with their new boss.
Injuries have cropped up too. Six first-team players were unavailable on Saturday, with Callum Brittain and Ryan Hedges making the cut after being out themselves.
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In their run of five draws in seven, there have been testing moments which Rovers have responded to. They came back against Norwich City and Millwall and didn't crumble under pressure against Preston North End or Plymouth Argyle with their opponents having momentum.
That doesn't buy points on the board but Eustace believes that the mentality of the group has improved since he walked through the door.
"The group have played such a huge amount of games in such a short space of time," Eustace said.
"It has stretched the squad. The players that have come back from injury, we've asked them to play Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, without any real momentum or fitness under their belt.
"It's about that togetherness and fight. I think this group of players has certainly shown that since I've come in. They're up for the fight.
"I think there are times in some of the games where we could have gone under quite easily. That might have happened previously.
"They haven't, this group are rolling their sleeves up and they're working their socks off to make sure we get enough points to stay in the league."
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