Marcus Bent says he was disappointed to be dropped for last week's match at Leeds, and is looking to get back to scoring action at Ewood Park on Wednesday night.

Bent, left out in favour of a Stewart-Armstrong partnership at Elland Road has is without a goal in four matches, but he says this isn't getting him down too much: "I have been through some bad spells in my time so four games is not going to bother me. Obviously my confidence has taken a bit of a battering, especially as I was dropped for the last game and I have not scored for a few weeks.

"When you are out there scoring goals, people expect you to do it every week. I'm hurt at being dropped but I'm still there, I'm still battling and I still want to play and score goals. I will try to stay confident and the goals will come."

Bent understands why George Burley made the switch he did at Leeds as he has a number of strikers at his disposal. Bent says he currently feels most comfortable playing alongside Alun Armstrong: "When I first got here I played alongside Alun so I got a bit of a partnership going with him. Then I played with Stewie and it takes a couple of games to get into the swing of things.

"Alun is who I feel most comfortable with at the moment but I'm sure if I played with Stewie more we would forge a good partnership as well.

"And I'm sure it would be the same if Alun and Stewie played together for a while. But that is not my decision, that is down to the manager."

However, he says it is not about individuals at the moment but about the team and he feels sure that the side can bounce back after their three recent defeats: "There are 10 games to go, and they are going to be hard games and the way we have played the last three it may look as if we are set for a long run of defeats, but the boys are confident we can turn things around.

"Things looked better at Leeds and we were a bit unfortunate with the first goal not being the best and with the penalty decision which was a bit harsh."

Wednesday's game at Ewood Park is a return to an old stomping ground for Bent and a goal would be doubly sweet. However, he feels no malice towards Graeme Souness, the manager who sold him without ever really giving him a chance at Premiership level: "It was good while it lasted and he taught me a number of things. It's never nice being left out by a manager but managers have decisions to make.

"He has Andy Cole now. He is a more established player than me and has played at the highest level and I'm sure Graeme will not have any regrets about signing Andy.

"There was never animosity between myself and Graeme and I don't have a bad word to say about him."

Souness said yesterday that he had no regrets over selling Bent.

Photo: Action Images

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