Burns: Work on Finishing Paying Off Thursday, 3rd Feb 2022 06:00 Wes Burns has already equalled his best-ever goals tally with Town this season and is looking to reach double figures then revising the target he set himself back in August prior to the start of the current campaign. It was with former club Fleetwood Town that former Welsh U21 cap Burns — he played 18 times for them and netted six goals — scored a total of eight times in the 2018/19 season, seven of them coming in League One fixtures and the other in an FA Cup tie, and his record so far as an Ipswich player is identical to that. “At the start of the season I set myself a personal goal of wanting to hit at least 10,” he revealed. “So I just need a couple more, although if I do get to 10 I’ll be setting myself a brand new target that I’ll be aiming for. For now I’m concentrating on reaching a new high and chipping in with a few assists as well.” Burns, voted Town's Player of the Month for January, has netted four times, including both goals in last week’s 2-0 win at AFC Wimbledon, in new boss Kieran McKenna’s six games in charge, and although it will be difficult to maintain that scoring ratio during the remainder of the current campaign he is definitely looking forward to the challenge. He added: “I practice my finishing quite a lot to be fair. I work a lot with [head of analysis] Charlie [Turnbull] on the training ground, shooting from the various angles that we feel I am most likely to get into during a game. “There’s no point in me shooting, for example, from the left side of the box because it would be so rare for me to be there. It’s usually down the side of the six-yard box or running in from the right, so we put in a lot of work in those areas.” Asked if he felt he was in danger of becoming a marked man, Burns replied: “Actually, it’s something that I’ve noticed is starting to happen, in the last few games especially. It happened up at Bolton and it was pretty tough for me to get involved the way I would have liked at Hillsborough last Saturday. “When opposition teams are adapting their tactics like that we just need to find ways in which I can still affect the game in a positive way.” Cardiff-born Burns was in the Bluebirds’ academy before being released at U15 level, at which point Bristol City signed him and in December 2012 he was awarded his first professional contract and a two and a half year deal to continue at Ashton Gate before committing himself to further extensions over the next few years as he continued to feature at first team level. He went on loan on five different occasions, the first of which was in 2013 and took him to Forest Green Rovers, where his team-mates included Town striker James Norwood. “That was back in the day, when Nors was quicker than he is now,” laughed Burns. “A player’s first loan is always a strange one because you’re going into a new dressing room and you’re meeting new players, senior players, and stuff like that. “Nors [James Norwood] was there, very vocal in the dressing room, so he took me under his wing pretty early on, which was nice of him. “Back then it was Nors and Matty Taylor, who’s banging them in for Oxford United, up front for us. It was Nors off the left, me off the right and Matty up the middle, and we did well.” He also spent time on loan at Oxford United, Cheltenham Town and Fleetwood United before venturing north of the border to join Aberdeen for a temporary stint in the Scottish Premiership, although his debut for the Dons came in a Europa League qualifier, an occasion he marked by coming off the bench to score the third goal in the last minute of a 3-0 win over Latvian side Ventspils at Pittodrie. Burns went on to make over 20 appearances for the Dons and added: “It was a great experience. I went up there with every intention of doing my ultimate best. I scored with my very first touch when I came off the bench but it never really worked out for me up there to be honest. I never really got going as well as I wanted to. “I don’t know if it was down to the fact that there was such a difference in the style of play up there or just being so far away from home. “I can’t really put my finger on what really went wrong when I was up there but if I had the chance again I would like to go back and rectify that, although I think that ship has probably sailed if I’m honest. But it was a good experience from which I learned a lot, which I’ve taken forward with me in my career so far.” It was midway through the 2016/17 season that Burns moved to Fleetwood on a permanent basis and in three and a half years on the Fylde Coast he clocked up 176 appearances for the Cod Army, scoring 23 goals, before he was one of Town’s 19 new signings last summer. Burns had words of advice for the four players — Bailey Clements, Rekeem Harper, Ben Morris and Matt Healy — who left Portman Road on Monday, the last day of the January transfer window, for loan spells at Stevenage, Crewe, Cork and Swedish side GAIS respectively. He said: “My advice to them would be to be as confident and bold as you can be. You’re there to learn and to make mistakes that you can learn from. You’re there to develop your career so you know it’s about learning as much as possible while you’re there. “The clubs you are joining are taking you for a reason, namely that they regard as you good enough to play in their team, so from your point of view it has to be about progressing your career as much as you can and learning as much as you can while you’re there.” Town also said farewell to midfield pair Scott Fraser and Jon Nolan, with Burns adding: “In football you do form a type of friendship and a bond with teammates that you spend a lot of time alongside. “When you’re in the situation we are in, trying to push for the play-offs and promotion, you all need to be together if you’re going to achieve something, so it’s always sad when people leave the group like Scotty did to join Charlton. “I got on really well with Scotty and I was gutted to see him leave, but that’s just the nature of the beast that is football. Things move and change so quickly in football but while we’re gutted to see guys leave we wish them all the best. We’ve got a task at hand and we must focus on that. “I think Jon will get on really well at Bristol Rovers, to be honest, and I think their manager, Joey Barton, will be perfect for him. From speaking to Jon I know he just wants to get over the bad period he’s had with injuries and get back to playing. I think Joey’s the best manager to help him. “Joey helped me no end in my career when I was with him at Fleetwood and I wasn’t at my best. He gave me plenty of game-time when I needed it and filled me with confidence, and I think that’s exactly what Jon needs as well. I think it will be the perfect move for him.” Finally, Burns admitted he was keeping a close on who was going where on deadline day, adding: “It’s always interesting, deadline day. I don’t know why so many clubs wait until the very last day to get their business done but it definitely adds to the excitement. A few of my friends in football got good moves, which was nice to see.”
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