ELLIOTT Bennett says Blackburn Rovers are making strides in the right direction, but wants to see that reflected in their points tally.

Rovers have taken 11 points from their unbeaten start under Tony Mowbray but remain in the bottom three with eight games to go.

MORE TOP STORIES:

Three consecutive 2-2 draws haven’t been enough to lift Rovers out of the relegation zone, and Bennett admits it should have been seven points rather than three from their trio of games.

Rovers were held by 10-man Norwich on March 11, before earning a last-gasp point against Fulham three days later.

But there was disappointment in the Rovers camp after Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Preston as Aiden McGeady denied them all three points with an injury-time equaliser.

“I should be talking about taking seven points from nine but instead we’re talking about three,” the midfielder said.

“That’s the major thing that we have to get, we need those points on the board.

“It’s okay having good performances and dominating games, but to concede in the manner that we did against Preston is gut-wrenching.

“The sense in the dressing room was one of massive disappointment.

“The two results away from home were good, we were disappointed with the Norwich game when we should have come away with all three again, and going in to the home game we wanted three points because it made those two on the road even better.

“You don’t want to drop points but we have been to Norwich, Fulham and played Preston and I think we completely dominated them.

“We’re hugely disappointed but I think we’re making strides in the right direction and we need to turn those points in to three.”

The 28-year-old scored his third long range effort of the season to draw Rovers level just before half-time, after Tom Barkhuizen had handed Preston an early lead.

Rovers took the lead nine minutes in to the second half through Craig Conway’s strike after a well worked move.

And Bennett felt that should have been the catalyst for Rovers to go on and earn all three points.

“The first 15 minutes they were bright and put us under pressure,” Bennett said.

“Once we got to grips with that it was one way traffic.

“Some of the football we played and chances we created was fantastic.

“The second goal, we work on that in the week, the gaffer has come in and got a way of playing and the lads are starting to take that on board.

“The second goal, I think if you ask the gaffer he would say that’s a perfect goal, he likes the team goals and the build-up was exactly how he wants us to play.

“That’s the major thing that we’re disappointed with – we battled back from 1-0 down to go 2-1 up and to concede such a late goal was disappointing.”

Rovers return from the international break with tough looking trips to promotion-chasing pair Brighton and Reading within the space of four days.

But Bennett says Rovers shouldn’t be written off, particularly after taking points off both Norwich and Fulham this month.

“Every game in this league is difficult but if we can continue with the performances that we’ve been putting in under the gaffer then I’m sure the points will come – that’s the main thing,” Bennett told the club’s official website 

“We have two tough away games coming up, but no-one gave us a chance at Norwich or Fulham and we should have come away with four points.

“We will have the break, we will be working hard on the training ground and really attack those eight games.

“It’s been physically tough and mentally you have to stay switched on.

“I think the break is a good chance for the gaffer to get some good training in to us, working on the things he’s tried to introduce and go and attack those last eight games.”