Charlie Wyke on his hat-trick against Mansfield
Having picked through the bones of Charlie Wyke’s saga of a weekend on Monday morning we also took the chance to focus more on his goal scoring exploits as notched up goals number 10, 11 and 12 for the season.“It’s the first league hat-trick of my career so it does feel really good,” he said. “It’s even better because JK [Jason Kennedy] had a few words about getting ahead of me again after he’d scored the first. I’m pleased that I’ve pulled away from him or I’d never hear the last of it.
“There’s been a bit of rivalry there and it’s been great competition between us both. Hopefully we’ll both keep doing it for the rest of the season.”
On his current extremely impressive strike rate – he’s bagged 33 goals in his 78 appearances for the club – he said: “It seems that everything I touch at the moment goes in. As soon as I’d scored my second I knew it was a great chance to get a hat-trick.
“The quality of the crosses and deliveries is unbelievable at the moment. Nicky Adams has got twelve assists now, I think, and Danny is chipping in with a few as well. Everyone is playing a part so it’s a dream when you’re playing up front. It’s definitely entertaining for the fans because we’re creating chances and putting them away.”
“I have to say a big thanks to Danny Grainger for letting me take the penalty so I could get my third,” he said. “He knew it was a big thing for me and even though it would have taken him to eight for the season he still stepped aside.”
When asked how nervous he was as he put the ball on the spot, he said: “I was terrible! The keeper chucked the ball at my stomach and said ‘you’re going to miss this’ so there was a bit of pressure on me.
“I just hit it as hard as I could and fortunately it went in. It’s probably fair to say the other two were striker’s goals. Colin West has been on at me for a few weeks now to get on the end of more crosses with headers, but I’m happy with any goal I score.”
The win took the team to the summit of the division, when news came through that Plymouth had been beaten, and he admitted that it was a good feeling as he looked at the league table for the first time.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” he said. “I’ve never been in first place as a player and I know that’s the same for some of the other lads. It comes down to the work we’re doing and the determination we have.
“We went behind again in the game and that’s something we need to stop from happening. The plus side is that we turned it round and we got the win. Top of the league is where we want to be so now we just want to stay there.”
As for any revised goal scoring targets, all he had to say was: “I’m not even going to think about that!
“It’s nice to see my name at the top of the club list but I don’t think about it in that way. I just take each game as it comes and see what it brings. I’m enjoying myself at the moment and hopefully that will continue.”
“We have the cup game next up [Rochdale at home, Saturday 3 December, kick off 3pm] and we’ve already been having a bit of banter with Joe Thompson. It would be nice to get one over on him, but I’m sure he’ll be thinking the same.
“Obviously we want to go on a run but it’ll be a tough game and we’ll have to be at our best. If we are we know we’re a match for anyone.”
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