Burns: I Knew as Soon as I Hit It
Friday, 6th Oct 2023 16:41

When Wes Burns opened the scoring early in Town’s 3-0 midweek win over Hull he knew, of course, that it was his first goal of the season – but he was not aware of the fact that it was also his first in the Championship for almost eight years.

Having been informed of the fact, the Town winger’s initial reaction was to ask: “Was it really? That’s a long time.” Then, having thought about it, he added: “Actually, I think I remember it. Was it 1-0, Middlesbrough at home?”

Burns, 28, was a Bristol City player when he scored his fourth and final goal for the Robins and his first - and until Tuesday only - strike in England’s second tier. It was on 16th January 2016 when he netted the clincher in the 90th minute and the records show that he also marked the occasion with a yellow card.

“I think I’ve had a few chances this year where I’ve kicked myself for not scoring,” he continued.

“The QPR one was probably the biggest one, where I had a free header at the back stick, but you can’t beat yourself up too much when it happens.

“As long as you are still getting chances, you don’t have to worry too much. It’s when you are not getting the chances that you have to start worrying, but we create so much as a team that I don’t think I’ve had much to worry about.

“It was good to open my account for the season. It was weird, because in the build-up to the game JD [Janoi Donacien] said he hadn’t seen me shoot from outside the area in ages. To be fair, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a proper shot from outside the box that was decent.

“So, when it fell for me, I had JD’s voice in the back of my mind saying ‘Just hit it’. I caught it sweet, lovely; on to the next one now. It was one of those where I knew as soon as I hit it that it had a chance.

“It was a clean strike and I knew that if I kept it to that side of the defender, the keeper wouldn’t see it until late.”

The assist came from Leif Davis, remarkably his 19th in 55 games for Town, and Burns smiled: “Leif just does what Leif does, to be fair. He assists everywhere. Also, great awareness from Conor [Chaplin] – great dummy – and it’s down to a great relationship that we have built during our time here. He always knows where I am going to be all the time.

“Overall, it was a great performance. The boss challenged us before the game – could we bring the intensity and the energy at a time when we were playing Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday-Tuesday again, and keep the pressing high? I thought we did that ten-fold and it showed in our performance.”

Burns’s fifth-minute moment, when he arrowed his shot beyond Hull keeper Ryan Allsop and into the far corner, was followed by another classic.

It all started with some nifty footwork from goalkeeper Vaclav Hladky, who took out two opposition attackers to launch the move and seconds later Chaplin was taking his season’s tally to four, all in the Championship and two of which, at both QPR and Sheffield Wednesday, have been worth six points to the second-placed Blues.

“That goal was down to prep that has been going on since the first day the boss came in here,” Burns revealed.

“It wasn’t something that we just worked on this week; it’s stuff we have been doing for nearly 18 months now. It doesn’t only look brilliant, it’s also brave and confident football, which is what we want to play as a team.”

If Burns gave Town the perfect start to another eventful game and what was probably the team’s best performance this season, the evening ended on a different high when shirt sponsor and global sensation, Suffolk’s very own Ed Sheeran, popped into the dressing room at the end to join in the celebrations, which saw the players’ blast out a decent rendition of the Framlingham-based singer-songwriter’s aptly named hit, Perfect.

Burns said: “CEO Mark Ashton came in and said we’d have somebody different doing the team talk and we’re all wondering who on earth was it going to be – then Ed walked in.

“You see Ed on TV and he’s a true world star, so when he comes bowling through the door, you’re wondering what’s going on and are also a bit starstruck.

“But he’s a humble, down to earth guy, really lovely, so it was a proper lovely evening. For someone who is so high profile, a world star, to even know who we are is a bit of a mad thing.”

Photo: TWTD

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