Blackburn winger David Bentley believes Roque Santa Cruz is making an instant impact in England because he loves his football.The former Bayern Munich striker took his tally to eight goals in five games in the 2-1 victory against Derby on Sunday.

Santa Cruz has benefited from the service provided by Bentley during this impressive spell.

There is mutual respect between the Paraguayan and the England international.

"Santa comes in December, doesn't he?" said Bentley. "Hopefully he can continue scoring as Roque is a top player.

"You can see his ability and he plays with a smile on his face.

"Roque wins headers, he has pace and he knows where the net is. He also makes intelligent runs.

"I am a big fan. If he continues this form it may be difficult to keep hold of him because he is going to have some career.

"Hopefully he can stay injury free and we can reap the full benefits."

Bentley grabbed the winner at Pride Park as Blackburn chalked up only their second win in 10 league games.

But they had to dig in after Matt Oakley gave rock-bottom Derby the lead at Pride Park.

Blackburn now entertain Sunderland on Wednesday and Bentley said: "We have got to build on this victory.

"The last month has been a rollercoaster ride for us. We know how much ability there is in the camp.

"But we have not been putting that across on the pitch and that has been so frustrating.

"We have had meetings and talked about how to put things right.

"If you look at how many goals we are scoring we are doing all right.

"It is the amount we are conceding that is a concern. That is not just down to the defence but the team as a whole.

"However, we showed a lot of character against Derby and it was good to get back to winning ways."

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