Donacien: I'd Love a Goal!
Wednesday, 28th Dec 2022 10:32

Check out Janoi Donacien’s career stats and one thing immediately stands out — the Town defender has yet to score a goal in more than 100 games for the club.

Indeed, you have to go back more than six years for the first and only time he has hit the back of the net in a career that has spanned more than 300 senior outings. To be precise, it was 29th October 2016 for previous club Accrington in a 3-1 League Two home defeat by Newport County, another of his former sides.

It may not quite be the stuff of ‘I was there’ T-shirts but when it was cheekily suggested to the St Lucia-born player that it was about time he scored, he quickly answered with a huge grin: “Yes, I agree!”

In other words, no one knows better than the man himself that a goal is long overdue, and he was quick to add: “I’m not really a player that gets into shooting positions but I’m already thinking about it, scoring I mean.

“It’s great that we keep moving forward as a team, picking up the results and the points we need to get to where we want to be, but I can’t deny I would love a goal. I’m very happy with the way things are going but put it this way, a goal, that would make me even happier.”

However, anyone making the trip down to the south coast on Thursday for the latest chapter of Town’s near-relentless promotion push, at Portsmouth, should not expect anything more than to see the usual polished, professional display from 29-year-old that has been his trademark in the majority of his 105 games for the Blues.

Donacien has been one of the club’s most consistent performers in the last two seasons and it was no surprise that he finished runner-up to leading goalscorer Wes Burns in the supporters’ Player of the Year poll at the end of last term.

He had been ever-present in the league during the current campaign until he rolled his ankle early in the 2-1 home win over Peterborough earlier this month, which caused him to be replaced by Kane Vincent-Young after only 16 minutes, and he was subsequently absent from last week’s 1-0 defeat at Wycombe Wanderers, only the third suffered in League One this season.

Donacien was fit and back in his usual place for the convincing 3-0 Boxing Day win over an Oxford United side that had been unbeaten in their previous eight league games — 10 in all competitions — and reflected: “It was a great win and I thought we thoroughly deserved it.

“We needed to dig in after a tough start. They had their tails up a bit but we dug in, started getting our passes together and started to click, with the boys moving the ball brilliantly. I think we deserved the win.”

Asked how important it was that they added a third goal to the two scored towards the end of the first half, Donacien added: “Once we went two goals ahead we were determined not to let them back into it.

“We stayed entirely in control of the game and the third goal was always going to be the one to cement the result. For all the work we put in, we deserved to get all three points and we just need to keep it going now.”

Fortunately, Oxford’s livelier start to the game failed to earn them any goals and Town eventually got their act together with goals from Freddie Ladapo and Burns, with Conor Chaplin’s ninth league goal of the season — and 11th in all competitions — rounding things off nicely in the 81st minute.

Donacien said: “We really do have a great squad of players. They all want to work hard for themselves and each other. They can dig in when times get tough and we have guys out injured.

“When there are players unable to play, we have the guys to come in and keep us ticking over. We have a nearly full-strength squad at the moment and everyone is going to be important as we look to kick on during the second half of the season.”

Town’s broad array of attacking talent was underlined on Boxing Day and Donacien added: “There are so many of them. Look at Sone [Aluko] when he came on; he’s just amazing the way he moves the ball. We’ve also got Freddie [Ladapo], Chappers [Conor Chaplin], Wes [Burns], Marcus [Harness] and Kyle [Edwards].

“You can add Kane [Vincent-Young] and Leif [Davis] too. When Leif got going against Oxford, he was probably the best I’ve seen him since he came in at the start of the season in terms of his crossing and running in behind.

“When he was receiving the ball from a teammate, he was just creating havoc down the left side. It was brilliant to see.

“As far as Leif is concerned, he can really go on to achieve things in his career. He’s still young [23 on Saturday] and we haven’t even found the ceiling yet. Hopefully he can keep pushing on and do well for us.”

Photo: Matchday Images

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TractorCam added 10:57 - Dec 28 It will be the goal to send us up, it's written in the stars!
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Orraman added 11:04 - Dec 28

If Paul Hurst did one good thing while he was here, then it was bringing Janoi down from Accrington. His early days were a bit underwhelming and he did not receive the best encouragement to develop his talents, but he stuck at it and now he has come on leaps and bounds under KMcK. A true role model for any young player striving to make that big break through to the first team squad

dirtydingusmagee added 11:09 - Dec 28 Janoi is now a solid dependable team member a goal now and again would be a bonus , just plugging away, we are a better team with than without . COYB
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