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Former Celts

Watch Stokes grab a double for Blackburn

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Anthony Stokes hasn’t wasted any time making his mark on Blackburn Rovers with the former Celtic striker scoring three times in his first two matches.

Saturday’s goal at home to Norwich didn’t carry much weight in a 4-1 defeat but Tuesday’s double away to Mansfield earned Owen Coyle’s side a home tie with Crewe in the second round.

Stokes put Rovers ahead in the 29th minute by creating space in the penalty box before tucking a low shot past the Mansfield keeper.

The homeside equalised in the 48th minute through Mitchell Rose but after Shane Duffy restored Blackburn’s lead six minutes later Stokes put the visitors 3-1 in front 60 seconds later.

“It is a good start but I’ve a long way to go,” the Irishman told the Blackburn website. “I said when I came here that I wanted to make an impact.

“There’s no point starting off well and fading away, I want to get stronger and get my fitness up even more, I’ve only played a game and a half so there is plenty more to come and I need to keep working hard and keep getting myself in the right positions in the game.”

Reflecting on the defeat from Norwich Stokes admitted: “We needed to pick ourselves up and we have done that. I thought it was a professional performance and even when they equalised we struck back straight away and I thought we saw the game out really well, we were comfortable.

“We wanted to bounce back, it was a difficult start for us the other day, it wasn’t the result or performance we wanted, but we rectified a few things and now we need to kick on from that and try and improve for the rest of the season.”

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