BLACKBURN Rovers boss Steve Kean insists he has never doubted his players despite growing pressure during the club’s 11-match winless streak.

The Rovers boss travels to West Ham on Saturday with a spring in his step after last weekend’s 1-0 win over Bolton moved them a step nearer safety, and he is adamant he has always kept the faith.

Rovers’ woeful run since the end of January has seen Kean come under fire from all quarters during a tough introduction to life as a Premier League manager.

He has remained positive throughout the club’s slide, and the constant speculation about his future, and ahead of Saturday’s vital trip to Upton Park he says he can see light at the end of the tunnel.

He said: “I didn’t doubt us. Maybe I would have started doing if the first 15 minutes of the Manchester City performance had carried on.

"But City would have been happy with the point by the end and you had to take that as a positive.

“We spoke at the hotel before the Bolton game and said we needed the points and we got them. We have got the character.

"We have a fantastic group of young guys backed up by experience.

“There is a cycle of change when any new manager comes in. There is the shock first of all then an acceptance.

"There is a cycle of change and I think we are coming out of that cycle.

"I think it just takes time and I think we are nearly there.”