Aynsley Pears is relishing having the No. 1 jersey at Rovers and is eager to keep improving his game.

Pears started against West Brom at the weekend following Thomas Kaminski’s departure and made a couple of smart stops during the opening 45 minutes.

He signed a new long-term deal at Ewood Park over the summer, having initially come into the side while Kaminski was sidelined by injury.

“It is the first time I have had a No. 1 shirt so it is a nice feeling,” said the 25-year-old shot stopper.

“That is the staple number of the goalkeeper at the club who is playing, and I am going to do my best to do it justice and play well for this football club.”

A new addition to Jon Dahl Tomasson’s goalkeeping department is expected before the transfer window closes, and Pears insists healthy competition can only be a good thing for the team.

“That is all you want, a chance to play well,” he continued. “It is down to me, if I am playing well I will stay in goal and if not, I won’t. But as long as it is my responsibility, I am happy with that.”

Pears spent plenty of time around Kaminski on the training pitch and believes his former team-mate has what it takes to make the step up to the top flight as Luton aim to build on last season’s promotion via the play-offs.

“There had been a lot of speculation about him leaving. He has been a great goalkeeper for this club and it has been great to train with him for the past three years,” the former Middlesbrough man explained.

“He is moving on to a Premier League team, so that is great and well done to him. Hopefully, it goes really well for him.

“He is a good goalkeeper and a good professional. He was good to train with and I enjoyed working with him. We pushed each other on.”

Pears made 26 appearances in all competitions last season, although he didn’t feature in the league until February.

“I was really pleased,” he added. “I think I performed well and the team did, the goals just didn’t come.

“But we played good stuff and I was pretty happy with how I performed. I just want to build on that and go again this year.

“It felt nice to get a good rhythm going and I think I got gradually better and more solid. It will be nice to try and get 46 of them, push on and keep improving for myself and the club.”

The goalkeeper is eager to push on from last season, having missed out on a play-off spot by the slimmest of margins on the final day.

Pears admits coming so close to a top six place was tough to take and felt that results during the final stages of the campaign didn’t necessarily reflect what their performances warranted.

“From my point of view, we just fell short but we played really good stuff towards the end,” he stated.

“The manager said many times it was the best we had played, but the goals just dried up and ultimately that is what you need.

“To miss out on goal difference was disappointing because in the last five or six goals games - with own goals and the (Coventry) goalie scoring - a lot of things happened that just didn’t go our way but we will try to put it right this year.”

He added: “It is going to be a tougher league but if we can build on how we played towards the end of last season, I think we can beat anyone on our day.

“We want to Leicester and West Ham last season and won. We are a good side and we believe in ourselves.”