Tyrhys Dolan reckons Rovers can use their struggles last season as fuel to kick on and climb the Championship table.

It was a difficult campaign at Ewood Park but ended on a high as John Eustace’s men secured safety on the final day following victory at champions Leicester City.

The side have made a positive start to the new season, taking four points out of six in the league and setting up a Lancashire derby against Blackpool in the Carabao Cup second round.

Dolan says it was important to learn lessons from last term and insists the squad is hungry to prove their doubters wrong.

“We always have high expectation of ourselves,” said the 22-year-old. “You don’t come in and say we are going to finish bottom half this season, we want to push for top half and even get into the top six!

“Some might not believe that looking at last season but that doesn’t mean anything to us. We believe in ourselves and what we can do, and we trust the gaffer and the staff.

“We are all confident, I think last season is just a reminder not to lose the games we shouldn’t be losing. We are ready to make a big change this season.”

Dolan admitted there were low points as Rovers battled against the drop but hailed his team-mates for dealing with the pressure.

“Blackburn shouldn’t be coming out of the Championship! We didn’t want to be the team for that to happen to so it was a tough period for all of us, we all felt it,” he continued.

“If people said they weren’t feeling the pressure, they were lying. I felt it because you want to do well for the club, the people in the community and your family.

“There were games where people probably did write us off like at Leeds, people thought we were going to lose but we came in clutch. I am just happy we stayed in the league.”

The youngster got on the scoresheet against Derby County on the opening day and has been encouraged by Rovers’ attacking play in recent weeks.

He believes their hard work on the training pitch is starting to pay off and is eager to make sure that trend continues ahead of Saturday’s clash with newly-promoted Oxford United.

“Hopefully, we can keep adding those goals because that is something we have been missing as a collective,” the attacker added.

“We worked so much on it in training, it is just repetition. The goals we are scoring is from the drills we have been doing so it is good to see the work we are putting in on the training pitch is paying off in games.”