JASON Steele doesn’t care if Rovers ‘win ugly’ as the need for points to climb away from the drop zone gets ever more desperate.

The goalkeeper was beaten twice at Villa Park on Saturday, with Owen Coyle’s side once again letting a winning position slip through their fingers.

Steele insists the squad are fully aware that if they don’t start winning they will be firmly in a fight to beat the drop.

And he admits it doesn’t really matter how those results come about.

“I don’t know if it’s a relegation battle yet, but we are where we are and we’ve got to do something about it quickly or it definitely is,” he said.

“We’ve got to start winning games. It could have been a draw, at least, on Saturday and it’s too many points we are dropping from good positions and after good performances.

“It’s about time we win ugly – a win not playing well would suit us down to the ground. Maybe if we lose that way people will say we’ve stopped playing and stopped what we’ve been good at. Who knows?

“But we are just fully aware of how much we need to start winning games.”

Steele has managed just one clean sheet so far this season, a statistic that underlines Rovers’ biggest problem.

But the 26-year-old former Middlesbrough keeper insists the team have enough quality to get themselves out of their current dire situation, and there were signs of that against Villa.

“It was a game of two halves,” he said of the 2-1 reverse in the Midlands.

“In the first half I thought we were by far the better team. We passed it around and beat the press, but we stopped in the second half and that’s probably what’s disappointing us the most.

“We put ourself in a position to win a game and to give away two goals is obviously frustrating.

“We pushed at the end to get something out of it, but we weren’t good enough.

“We have got to pick ourselves up and go again.

“The reality is we are where we are and we haven’t won enough games – it’s as simple as that and we’ve got to start (winning).

“But we’ve got to stick together as a team, as a group, as a club and hopefully we can get some points quickly.”

The Rovers No 1 has seen six different central defensive partnerships line up in front of him already this season, as injuries have forced regular changes to the back line. But it doesn’t matter to him who gets the nod.

He added: “We train every day and we all understand our roles.

“I’m fully confident of the lads who play in front of me, they’re all top players, but against Villa we couldn’t quite keep them out.”