A midfielder hitting double figures for goals for a season is a rare commodity at any level, but with 18 league games left to play Jon Mellish has already achieved that, with his thirteenth strike to hit the back of the net coming in Tuesday’s away fixture at Morecambe.
His first-half midweek volley was his first goal since the end of November, with a niggling injury and the enforced club lay-off hampering opportunities, with him having amassed his impressive 12-goal haul through a blistering first three months of the campaign.
Speaking about his knack of being in the right place at the right time, manager Chris Beech said: “I hope that’s him back on the goal trail.
“If anything, it wasn’t his best game at all the other day. He’s not back to his best, but it was great to see him score.
“It was a great finish if you could see through the fog, it was beautifully struck, and that’s what he can do. That’s what I saw however long ago it was that I spotted it.”
“I’m glad he’s done that because that’s what midfield players have to do,” he added. “They have to work hard, battle strong. Again, a little bit like we’ve just talked about, in different factors, Jon has to make sure he commits to all those factors – runs further, faster, harder, tackles more, wins more aerial ball, and has a goalscoring prowess.
“He needs to have great value on set plays for and against, and if he’s doing all of that it means he’s got a great chance of having a very strong career.
“He has technical skills too. His emotion and decision-making will get better in time, and his passing will improve.
“It’s not something I would say suggests it’s not good enough, it will just improve from the good point where it is.”
“It’s the same for the rest of the group,” he continued. “We’ve got to recognise, the enforced break, there’s not a lot we can do about that.
“The players have been excellent in getting on with a lot of discrepancy, now we find ourselves back at it. I’m not going to disguise we’re not happy about the fact we’re not winning games.
“In terms of the mood, the players are very ambitious, competitive and it is what it is at this current state. They’ll continue to work hard and they know what they need to do, and I’m sure they’ll add to the good bits they’re producing to take the next step we all want to see.”
