INTERVIEW: My first league goal meant a lot

Striker Shaun Miller on goals and reaching landmarks

Striker Shaun Miller bagged goal number 75 of his career against Wycombe on Saturday and it turned out to be the match winner in what was a very tight game.

We spoke to him about that goal, and about the game, ahead of the Monday morning training session.

“I had a chance in the first half which I was disappointed about, so it was nice to put the second chance away,” he said. “It was my first league goal here so hopefully I’ll get a few more and go on a bit of a run.

“I think the chances where you have a lot of time to think are more difficult. The instinctive one-touch chances are easier. It was similar to the one I had against Port Vale, which I put wide, but thankfully I slotted this one in the corner.”

“You want to score in every game so my first league goal did mean a lot,” he admitted. “It’s important and I was delighted to get it off my back, which I think everybody could see by the celebration.

“The more goals I get the better the team does, so I think everyone was pleased to see me score. It was the goal that won us the game so I was obviously pleased that I got it. I’ll just keep striving to keep scoring and hopefully there will be more to follow.”

“I always feel like I’m dangerous and I always get chances, even if they are just half chances,” he commented. “I always back myself, and even if things aren’t going well I always believe that a chance will come, so you’ve just got to be there to try and put it away.

“The three points were more important than me scoring because that was what we needed after the draws we’ve had. It didn’t really matter who scored the goal, we just needed the points on the board to help us push up the league. It was a bonus to get the goal to win the game but everyone is delighted with the victory and we want to follow that up on Tuesday.”

On the 75-goal career milestone, he said: “I usually keep check of things like that but I didn’t know it was my 75th career goal until somebody told me. It would be nice to get another 25 to round it up to 100! Every goal is special, and I just want to score as many as I can, but the most important thing is getting those wins and keeping this run going.

“We’re still unbeaten, which is an impressive stat to have, and teams will want to be the first ones to beat us, so we’ve got to maintain our focus and make sure we keep it going. The draws have kept us ticking over and have meant we’ve kept progressing by putting points on the board. We feel unbeatable at the moment, which is a good mentality to have going into the game.”

Manager Keith Curle revealed after the game on Saturday that he’d used the Oldham reserve game last Tuesday to ‘annoy the living daylights’ out of the forward, knowing all along that he was part of the starting plans for the weekend’s home game.

“I can tell you it worked, I was annoyed,” Miller admitted. “He spoke to me and said he was pleased with the aggressive nature of my play in the Oldham game, which is what you need to hear.

“If you look at the centre halves on Saturday, they were two absolute monsters, so I need to be aggressive in those situations. I’m not Jabo or Charlie, so I need to play slightly differently while still trying to be physical. Hopefully I showed the manager I can do that and it should stand me in good stead.”

Next up, of course, is the trip to Doncaster tonight.

“Every game in this league is tough,” he told us. “We’ve had a tough start but we’ve also had some good results within that. It’s getting towards the ten game mark where you start to see where teams are.

“Doncaster and Colchester are both up there are the moment so they’ll be tough games. The good thing is that we’ll go to Doncaster full of confidence and we’ll see where that leaves us.”