Winger thought Doncaster dream was over.
Kyle Bennett admitted that he thought his Doncaster Rovers career was over, prior to his recent purple patch.Bennett has been Rovers’ man of the moment of late, even receiving high praise from his manager, Paul Dickov and hopes his form can rub off on his teammates.
“I think I came on three times last year and thought that it was over for me here, but then we got relegated and I’ve been more involved,” he said.
“The last pre season, I went with a similar mentality and it just didn’t work because others were brought in e.g. Harry Forrester and Mark Duffy but we've been left with limited numbers and it's given me the chance to play.
“I think there's still more to come, I’ve just been trying to improve my game and work that bit harder,” the 24 year old said.
“I’m focused on my own game, my task and my role. I’ve been criticised for not working hard enough so I’ve tried building that in to my game.
“I’ve never been called a role model before but it’s nice to get that recognition that I’ve changed my ways.”
Bennett had a goal chalked off in Tuesday night’s JPT tie against Notts County, where Rovers crashed out to their League One opposition.
“It happens in football and I’ll take it with a pinch of salt,” Bennett said of the incident.
“We've had a few good results and we were five unbeaten before Tuesday but we need to start picking up three points rather than one.
“If we can get something from Gillingham, with a couple of games of hand, it will put us in good stead.”
Rovers’ inability to convert their good form on the road to points on their home patch has been well document and Bennett says it’s not gone unnoticed.
“It’s a different set up, it's based differently, when you’re away teams have to come and attack you and that leaves gap for our forward players to attack those gaps whereas it’s the other way round at home,” he said.
“They sit back, like Notts County did, and it’s difficult to break down when they're compact. You’ve got to use different tactics to get round them.
“I think we need to put things right on Saturday and get three points.”