RETURNING striker Anthony Stokes has backed Blackburn Rovers to starting climbing up the Championship table – if they stop making life hard for themselves.

Owen Coyle’s third-from-bottom side return to action on Saturday when they welcome Ipswich Town to Ewood Park.

MORE TOP STORIES:

They will go into the game with the out-of-form Tractor Boys having fallen behind in all but one of their 11 league matches so far this season.

And in their last two outings before the international break they were unable to hit back after Sheffield Wednesday and then Birmingham City netted what proved to be the winning goals.

Stokes, who is hoping to make his comeback against Ipswich, said: “It doesn’t make a difference if you’re only losing games by one goal.

“We want to be winning games, we want to be putting ourselves in the mix, but we’re making it hard for ourselves.

“In most of the games we play we’re conceding first and that means we’re having to chase games.

“If we can try and keep it solid and, if possible, give ourselves more of a chance by taking the lead in games.

“But, listen, performances have been good. It’s just the small margins.

“We’re working hard in the background and if we can keep doing that, and we all stick together, then we’ll be fine.”

Stokes has watched Rovers’ last six league matches from the sidelines after hurting his knee in training on the eve of the 1-1 draw at QPR last month.

But he is now close to full fitness after making two appearances for the club’s under-23s.

And Stokes believes he is rejoining a Rovers side who are playing better than their results suggest.

The Republic of Ireland international, who played in a behind-closed-doors clash with Accrington Stanley yesterday, said: “Performances have been getting better and I think anyone who has watched will have seen an improvement over the last five or six games.

“It’s the Championship. Small details decide games. We just need to persevere and try and take it game by game because every point is so important between now and the end of the season.

“You look at the Championship every year and if you go on a run of winning two or three games you’re out of it and in mid-table. That’s the way it is.

“We’re not fooling ourselves. We know it’s going to be tough. But if you look at quality and if you look at the improvement in the performances over the last five or six games we’re not far away.”

The visit of Ipswich, who have failed to score in more than six hours of football, kick starts a run of seven home games for Rovers before Christmas.

And Stokes said: “We want to play at home. We’re familiar with the ground. Hopefully the fans will get behind us and hopefully we can put in the performance to give them something to cheer about and they will really back us this season.

“It’s a very, very tough league and we’re going to have to take it game by game and we need everyone, all the players in the squad, and the fans, in it together.”