Jan Paul van Hecke says he’s working to channel his emotions in the right way but feels his all-action style has resonated with the Rovers supporter.

The defender says he looks at himself as a Rovers player, rather than a Brighton loanee, and is proud of the way he, and the team, have responded to the 7-0 defeat to Fulham who they meet tomorrow.

Van Hecke was sent off in the first half of that defeat but has been an ever-present in the side after serving his three-match ban and has become something of a cult figure among supporters.

He has been a key part of the three-man defence that has kept 11 clean sheets in their last 16 matches and is loving life at Ewood Park.

“I’m here and I feel like a Blackburn Rovers player, I think that’s the best way to do it,” the Dutchman said.

“This season I’m just a player like everyone else and I think that’s better for myself.

“If you come here and think ‘oh I’m a Brighton player I just come here to play’ then it doesn’t work like that.

“Blackburn is a great club with a big history, this is a really good league and I’m really happy to be here.

“I feel as though I’m a player for Blackburn Rovers.”

The central defender described the tackle that saw him sent off against Fulham as ‘stupid’ but says that has simply been something for him to learn from as part of his development.

He apologised to his team-mates in the wake of the defeat, and said: “Of course if you get beat 7-0 at home it’s difficult.

“After the game I was saying to be the boys, ‘sorry, it’s my fault’.

“Getting a red card in the first half, especially against them, you know it’s going to be really hard to keep the score down.

“I think at the end of the day it was only three points and you’ve seen since that, that game wasn’t good but maybe it was good for us to change things around.

“Of course for me I was sat out for three games because I was suspended and then my first game back I was a little nervous because I didn’t want to do anything stupid.

“Everything went well and now it’s about keeping that going for the final 12 games.”

Victory over QPR last time out was a ‘big win’ in Rovers’ pursuit of a top six finish in the eyes of van Hecke who is eager for Rovers to put things right against Fulham tomorrow afternoon.

“I want to show everyone that we’re a better team than that, but I think we’ve already shown that,” he explained.

“They beat us 7-0 so we want to push back and get a good result there.”

Tony Mowbray has impressed with van Hecke’s warrior-like qualities, but also his ability to pick the right pass out of defence, and van Hecke says combining those two sides of his game is what he aims to keep improving.

He added: “I’m really emotional when we win, or when we lose.

“I’m an emotional player, you can see whether we win or lose with me, but I think people like that.

“I play sometimes as a fan, it’s not always good to be too emotional, it can be bad for your own game, but I think that’s why people like me.

“I was even worse when I was younger. If I got beat when I was younger then I was crying and moaning at everyone else and myself.

“I’ve learned from it, when you get older you learn more and go through some things, like Fulham.

“Last year I gave away a couple of penalties, so you learn from that and next time you do things different.

“It’s like one of my strengths to be really emotional and fight for every ball, but it can be the other side as well, so I try and make the emotional side the best part of my game.

His desire to keep the ball out of the net, and build up play from the back, stems from his time in Holland, but it was strikers, rather than defenders, who first caught his eye when watching football as a youngster.

“I liked (Dennis) Bergkamp, he was my example, but was a No.10. I wish I was a striker and could score goals, but I don’t have that quality to score goals so that’s why I’m now a centre back.

“Of course I watch Jaap Stam, a class defender, now I see van (Virgil) Dijk and think ‘wow, he’s unreal’.

“But when I was younger I watched the strikers because I wish I was one.

“Now I’m a centre back I watch the defenders and van Dijk for me is the best in the world. You see his passing and when he’s defending no-one can beat him, he’s really good.”