Skuse: Midfielders Need to Score More Saturday, 22nd Feb 2014 06:00 Cole Skuse may still be looking for his first Town goal but admits it is hardly preying on his mind. But Skuse, signed on a free transfer last summer after his contract at first club Bristol City had expired, is not trying to hide from the fact that he and his midfield colleagues could do more to help the cause. He said: “The strikers are not just going to score on their own. We have to try and do our bit in wide areas and from midfield. We’ll try our utmost. We can’t just rely on them for the goals. “I’ve been saying it for about 10 years now that I’ve got to get more goals. It’s not for the want of trying. We will try and do our bit. “I wouldn’t be absolutely distraught if I didn’t score and we got promoted. I don’t think I’d lose any sleep. I’ve said it for years that I’d like to get more goals but I also try and do my bit defensively, trying to cover a lot of ground. I would like more goals, though.” Skuse admitted to extra practice sessions after training but grinned: “It’s not usually very successful. I’m usually fetching balls out of the fences and hedges! I do try and do bits, though. TC does put on extra sessions and I’m working on it.” Bristol-born Skuse has drawn a blank in his 32 Town league and cup appearances this season and scored just nine times in 339 outings for his previous employers. He admitted the lack of goals has been the subject of a conversation with manager Mick McCarthy, who has continually praised the player and even insisted he could hold his own in the Premier League. Skuse said: “He and TC have mentioned it. We’ve had a meeting about it but I’ve played 350-odd games and only scored nine goals. It’s not as if I’m a prolific goalscorer and I don’t lose sleep over it. “The manager’s not pinning me up against the wall saying ‘You’ve got to score on Saturday or that’s you done’. But don’t get me wrong, he might ask ‘Any chance?’ and I’d love to answer with at least one.” McCarthy says adding goals from midfield is something which he and assistant Terry Connor have been working on with the Blues’ engine room having totalled only six between them so far this season. “We need more goals, we work at it all the time,” he said. “Wingers getting in the box at the far stick, tucking in, people shooting, midfield players getting in the box. “And despite that we’ve scored a shedload more than we did last year and where are we in the league in terms of goalscoring? We’re up there.” McCarthy says his midfielders probably could have netted up to 20 goals given their opportunities: “Tunners when he was here had plenty of chances, Tabby has had plenty of chances to get more than he’s got, Ando has, Carlos has. “Skusey not so much as generally he’s been the security in the team, the holding one, but he’s been unlucky a couple of times with shots. We’d like more goals from there.”
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