AT A time when it looked like he may need to leave Ewood Park in his pursuit of first-team football, the FA Cup came to Elliott Bennett’s rescue.

The midfielder featured in just seven of Rovers’ opening 28 games last term having picked up an injury on the opening day of the season against Norwich and falling out of favour under former boss Owen Coyle.

Bennett opted to stay and fight for his place and his return to the starting XI came in the cup at QPR in January.

An all-action performance in a 2-1 win, and the appointment of Tony Mowbray as boss later in the season, means the 28-year-old hasn’t looked back.

Of the 42 league and FA Cup games since that Loftus Road win, Bennett has featured in all but four. Suspension accounts for three absences while the anomaly is the 1-1 draw with Cardiff City on March 7 in Mowbray’s second game in charge.

So, ahead of Sunday’s FA Cup second round visit of Crewe Alexandra, it has been a case of fringe man to front man for Bennett who has since extended his stay at Ewood through to the summer of 2020.

Looking back, Bennett said: “I didn’t play too much before QPR in the third round.

“I got my opportunity in that game and after that I stayed in and around the team.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for the FA Cup, I love playing in it, it’s the biggest cup competition domestically and we’re hoping we can have a nice run in it.

“It will be a tough game on Sunday and in the third round you’re hoping to get a glamour tie.”

Bennett has also spoken of his desire to get on the scoresheet, having failed to do so this season, with his strike in the fourth round win over Blackpool in February winning the club’s goal of the season prize.

This weekend Rovers welcome a Crewe side who Bennett enjoyed 11 games with during the 2007/08 season while on loan from Wolves.

He scored a solitary goal, and not a bad one, the winner against the Alex’s local rivals Port Vale just minutes after coming off the bench.

“I was only young (18 when he made the move) but had a good time there,” the Rovers man said of his Gresty Road spell.

“I was training with men every day. I went from training with the reserves to playing in an environment when it matters what happens on a Saturday.

“It was a massive learning curve for me and I really enjoyed it.”

Bennett will face his former club with a place in round three on the line and the carrot of a potential tie with a Premier League giant. The midfielder will be as eager as anyone for that to happen having missed the cup exit to Manchester United last season through suspension.

But he knows getting past Crewe won’t be easy after Rovers were pushed close by another League Two side, Barnet, in round one.

“That’s the way it is, people naturally step up to the plate,” Bennett added. “We played Manchester United in the FA Cup and almost caused a massive shock.

“You go away from home and the home team normally has to take the game to you.

“When teams do that it can leave space and we have the quality to take advantage of any space that is afforded to us.

“At home, teams sit quite deep, not much space in between the lines and players like Dacky (Bradley Dack) who you need to get involved as much as you can, when teams sit as deep as they do it’s more difficult to get through that block.

“It’s about being patient, it helps if you score in the first 15 or 20 minutes. Score in that period and the other teams’ gameplan goes out of the window, they have to come out at you and that creates more space.

“It is more difficult but it a challenge we’re relishing.”