BLACKBURN Rovers boss Owen Coyle has backed winger Liam Feeney to win over the doubters and prove why he was brought back to the club.

Feeney did not make an impact during a six-match game loan spell for Rovers at the back end of the 2013-14 season.

However the free agent was a man in demand in the summer after impressing for Bolton Wanderers and then Ipswich Town on loan.

Coyle managed to see off the likes of Ipswich to make Feeney one of his first signings since taking over the Ewood Park reins.

The 30-year-old started the opening two Championship games of the campaign but since then he been restricted to five substitute appearances off the bench.

And Coyle said: “Liam has trained really well, as he has done over a period of weeks, and when he was in the team he didn’t do badly, he got a lot of crosses in and everything else.

“And of course when you come back to a club people will have their own ideas and own opinions.

“The only way through that, and I’ve been there myself, is you go out there, you perform and you perform well.

“That’s ultimately what we all try and do because when you do that that’s the way you win people over by winning games, by playing well and everything else.

“Whether it’s Liam, or anybody else in the team, that’s what you’ve got to try and do.

“He’s a mentally strong lad, he’s played at a good level for a number of years, and I’m pretty sure he’ll bounce back and show everyone his quality.”

Another summer signing facing a fight to win his place back in Coyle’s starting line-up is striker Anthony Stokes.

Stokes scored three goals in his first two matches since his free transfer move from Celtic but he has missed the last six games through a knee injury.

The 28-year-old marked his return to competitive action by scoring for the under-23s in their 3-2 home win over Wolves on Monday before he was sent off for two bookings.

Despite the controversial dismissal Stokes will be available for today’s trip to Birmingham City.

And Coyle, who was present at Leyland for the Premier League 2 encounter, said: “Anthony played the reserve game the other night and showed a good attitude in terms of his workrate and application.

“He scored his penalty before he was sent off in a game that was a travesty. We were at the game and it’s probably one of the poorest sending offs I’ve seen in football.”

“He’s trained hard this week and I feel he’s certainly getting closer to what I would call 100 per cent fit.”

Rovers have won two of their last three league matches.

But they remain in the relegation places after a poor start to the season and after losing captain Grant Hanley and centre-back partner Shane Duffy.

Birmingham, in contrast, are seventh and unbeaten in six games.

And their manager Gary Rowett said of Rovers: “Any side that loses probably two of the best centre-halves in the division in the summer, it’s going to have an effect on you and perhaps destabilise you a little bit early in the season.

“They have brought a lot of players in, something like 13, again that’s not going to be an easy one to settle down. 

“But at some point, with the players they have got and Owen“s an experienced manager, they will settle down into a grrove.

“They beat Derby, away from home, which not many people would have expected that result. They are capable of doing that.

“I sound like a stuck record but we are going to have to be at our very, very best again to win what is always a very, very difficult Championship game.”