Striker Stephen Elliott on his goal and on the Hartlepool United game
Striker Stephen Elliott gave us his reaction to scoring his first goal for the club in the 3-0 victory over Hartlepool on Saturday.
“It was a good game for me on a personal level but the most important thing as far as I’m concerned is the performance and the three points for the team,” he said. “It keeps a run ticking over for us and we can push on again on Tuesday night from here.
“It goes without saying that strikers like scoring goals and everyone knows I’ve had a terrible time with missing a lot of football through my knee injury. To score again after such a long time out of the game is a great feeling for me.
“You want to score in every game but this is a reminder for me that I can still get in the positions to help to make a difference.”
“It’s felt like it’s been coming,” he told us. “I had a couple of close efforts last week and I was a bit unlucky with them. I can feel that my sharpness is coming back with the more game time I get.
“I think it was Brad [Potts] who got his toe to this one and it came across to me. I just put my head down and tried to make sure I hit it properly. It was a good time to score for us because they were having a little spell. Getting the second goal took the pressure off the team and we went on to win the game comfortably in the end.”
“Scoring in front of the fans was a nice moment,” he agreed. “They’ve followed us in their numbers and you could see how much it meant to them after the game. They’ve waited patiently for something like that and hopefully we can kick on and start moving up the table.
“The home win last week was a big moment for us and we knew if we could follow it up with our first away win then it would be huge for us. The quality we have in the squad suggests we’re in a false position but we need to prove that out on the pitch. We’ve got things going now and I’m sure it will only be a matter of time before we’re shooting up the table.”
“That will come from performances like this,” he continued. “There are a lot of physical teams in this league and you have to win your battles on the pitch. We’ve got players doing that and we’ve got others on the bench who can come on and make a difference to games.
“We’re getting more consistency in what we’re doing and we’ll be looking to take it into Tuesday night and next Saturday. We’ve got a lot of confidence from the last few results and when you think this was a bit of a derby for us the end result has been fantastic.”
“Like I say, I’m hoping things will only get better and better on a personal level,” he concluded. “It was important for me to get a base to play football this season and I’m starting to feel my energy come back into my game. Hopefully it’s onwards and upwards for everybody.”
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