The year 2023 has been unforgettable for Town star Conor Chaplin, who has celebrated 22 goals so far and is looking to add to that impressive tally before we move into 2024.
Chaplin, who became a dad for the first time last week when his partner gave birth to a baby boy, has bagged five in the current campaign and found the net 29 times in all competitions in the 2022/23 campaign, 17 of them coming from January onwards.
So, it’s not the least bit surprising to hear him state: "It has been a great year and I put it down to playing in such a good team under a very good manager. We play a good system, one that really suits me, while confidence is a big thing as well.
"We’ve been winning games and everything has sort of come together. I’ve never felt better in my time as a footballer than I do right now.”
Chaplin, who arrived at Town from Barnsley in the summer of 2021, is set to make only second visit to Ashton Gate, home of Bristol City, for tonight’s Championship fixture.
His first came in February 2021 when he was a member of the Tykes’ team that won 1-0 there thanks to a goal from Carlton Morris, now playing in the Premier League with Luton Town.
He added: "It’s a nice stadium with a good pitch, but any away game in the Championship is tough. It’s a big challenge – they have plenty of good players – but it’s one that we are looking forward to and can’t wait for. They have great intensity in their approach to games so we’re looking forward to facing them.”
Chaplin’s good pal, right winger Wes Burns, will be absent this evening as a result of the shoulder injury he picked up on international duty with Wales in their recent 4-0 victory over Gibraltar, and Chaplin reported: "There’s not too much Wes can do at the moment. He’s just trying to get the swelling down and stuff like that.
"But Wes is a bubbly character and he’s still the same around the place. Everybody loves him and it’s good that we have still seen a lot of him.
"It’s not an injury that means he has to be resting at home, or anything like that. He’s been at the training ground getting his treatment and doing his work in the gym and on the bike. He’s still in really good spirits.
"He’ll be missed, of course he will, because he’s been a constant in the team for a long time and possesses so many useful qualities. But the reason we have a squad is to have players ready for this sort of thing and while he’s out it will be someone else’s responsibility to step up. That’s what it’s all about.
"We stressed that throughout the whole of last season and it’s the same this season – it’s a squad game and it will be a squad that will get us over the line. There are always going to be injuries and suspensions in every season, and we’ve had them already this season.
"Wes is the unlucky one at the moment but Freddie [Ladapo] and Elkan [Baggott] are also injured. Like I said, though, we have a squad of players and there are people looking to get games who will be filling the gaps and looking to impress the manager.”
Chaplin spoke of his disappointment for the Town fans who were already en route, or even in Rotherham on Friday, only to hear at 5pm that the game, which was scheduled to be broadcast live on Sky Sports, had been postponed because of the River Don bursting its banks as Storm Babet battered Britain.
The Town players had travelled to Yorkshire the previous day and Chaplin said: "To be honest, I was more disappointed for the supporters who had made the journey than I was for us.
"It’s a tough one but I don’t think it was right that the announcement came just three hours before kick-off. That wasn’t very fair at all. Everyone knows it’s a long trip from Suffolk, meaning the fans had to set off a lot earlier than that, so I just don’t think it was right.
"We were there, we were prepared and we were ready to play. But we know these things can happen and there’s no point getting too frustrated about it.
"We can’t control the weather and we can’t control a river next to the stadium, can we? There’s no point us dwelling on it because we’ve got another game round the corner at Bristol City tonight.
"Yes, of course we were disappointed, but we have postponements most, if not all, seasons. It’s different for the fans, however, because most of them would probably have had work or even school the next day, and a wasted trip was the last thing they would have wanted.”