ROVERS boss Owen Coyle is confident his team can stand ‘toe-to-toe’ with any side in the Championship after putting a shocking start to the season behind them.

Coyle’s side managed just two points from their first seven league games, which included a 4-1 opening day thrashing by Norwich City and a 3-0 reverse at Cardiff that witnessed two own goals and a sending off.

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The rotten run left Rovers rooted to the bottom of the table until mid-September. They’ve only managed to rise above the relegation line twice since then, and only for one match on each occasion.

A weekend win for Wigan in South Wales, allied to Rovers conceding late on to draw with Wolves at Ewood Park, means they slumped a place to 23rd.

But Coyle insists he has seen signs of improvement, including some ‘pleasing on the eye’ spells on Saturday evening.

“We’re certainly not the finished article but we know we are getting better,” he said.

“We have heart and a lot of courage in the team.

“Again we are decimated by injuries - Tommie Hoban dislocating his shoulder on the back of Derrick Williams, who is out for four to six weeks, “So, given all that, the players stood up and showed that heart for the fight and that courage, and they have quality as well. Some of our play at times against Wolves was very pleasing on the eye.

“We’re trying to build something. We’ve very much still got improvement to make in different areas – we know that.

“We had a terrible start but from then I think we’ve shown we’re a decent side and that we can stand toe-to-toe with some decent teams that have invested a lot of money.”

Coyle brought in 12 players over the summer – five on loan deals and six on free transfers, with the only money spent being the £250,000 paid to Bristol City for left-back Williams.

Wolves, by contrast, could bring £7million man Ivan Cavaleiro off the bench, with the former Monaco striker stinging the palms of Jason Steele after his introduction in the second half.

Saturday sees Rovers travel to Aston Villa, who shelled out almost £50m in the summer, including £12m on former Fulham striker Ross McCormack.

But while the Rovers manager accepts there is a huge disparity in spending, he is backing his side to move up the table.

He said: “There was £200million spent in the Championship over the summer and we spent £200,00-odd of that.

“But we know about the quality of the players we’re bringing in, and we know when we can get them all fit and healthy we’ll have a good team and a team that obviously will move up the league.

“The important thing is that when we’ve shown that stability, then we get the investment at the right time. By doing that we truly believe that if we execute the plan properly we can get this club back to where it should be.”