Town striker George Hirst was pleased to add to his pre-season goals tally during the Blues’ 3-1 victory over Aberdeen at Pittodrie.

Hirst pounced on a loose ball after Dimitar Mitov had spilled Sammie Szmodics’s effort during a first half in which Kieran McKenna’s side pressed high and put themselves in a comfortable position in the game.

That took the Scotland international to three goals in two pre-season matches following his brace against Austrian side Blau-Weiß Linz last Saturday.

“You don’t get any medals for goals in pre-season,” Hirst said. “But ultimately you don’t want to be going into the season having scored none.

“If I can have five or 10 of those tap-ins this season then I’ll be pretty happy.”

Town’s second public friendly of the summer against the Scottish Cup champions was as watchable as they come for pre-season outings, particularly during the time where the Blues’ starting XI were on the field for the first 67 minutes.

“I thought we played really well,” Hirst continued. “I thought Aberdeen gave us a massive challenge. They were right up for the game as you would expect and I think we were as well.

“The main message coming out of the warm-up was we need to be right at it from the first whistle because if we don’t they will hurt us, it’s as simple as that. It’s not a game we took lightly at all and we showed that from the first minute.

“In the first 10-15 minutes we were really intense and really aggressive. They caused us a few issues with their dropouts and midfielders dropping into the backline and getting the press right, but once we figured that out ourselves it was a really good performance and we went in at half-time two goals to the good.”

For the second game running, Hirst was notably handed the number nine shirt while the rest of the Town squad continued with their squad numbers from last season.

Hirst admitted he had a conversation with McKenna regarding the shirt which had been left vacant last summer.

He said: “I’ve always been a big believer of it is just a number, but at the same time I had the conversation with the boss about it.

“I explained to him that being from a family where my dad played football for a number of years at a really high level, I look back at all the pictures and videos of him when he was playing and he’s always got the number nine shirt on.

“As much as it is just a number, I could wear the number 53 and I’m still going to be the same player out on the football pitch.

“But having that nine on the back of your shirt as a striker is what everybody wants. I don’t think you’ll find too many strikers out there that don’t want to wear the number nine, I’m certainly not one of them.

“I want it on my back and I want that responsibility of being Ipswich Town’s number nine and using that to go and be the focal point of the team.

“It was definitely something I asked for, it was something that the boss was happy for me to do and happy for me to wear. He said to me if I didn’t ask he’d have been a little bit worried so I’m definitely glad I did. Hopefully that’s mine for the foreseeable.”

On added hunger following restricted minutes last season, he added: “Without a doubt, it feels like a while since I’ve had that.

“The last four months of the Championship season where I was injured, I didn’t have it then. Going into the Premier League I got a little stupid injury where my knee has been fine for the last six years and all of a sudden the ball hits me on the end of the knee and it ballooned up, that was that and I was out for a few weeks.

“That was another annoying one. It’s felt like it’s been about a year and a half since I’ve had that week in, week out.

“Getting back to the chance to go and do that and show Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday with the amount of games we have to be able to go and show myself and really help the team as much as humanly possible is really exciting.”

Asked for a goals tally this season, the 26-year-old said: “I wouldn’t share it, I never do. I’ll share it at the end of the season and let you know whether I met it or not.”

The other two Town goals during the victory over Aberdeen were netted by Jaden Philogene, who played off his favoured left-hand side for the second pre-season match in succession.

While he has found early life difficult at Portman Road, not helped by a knee injury that ended his Premier League season prematurely in April, Hirst insists there is more to come from the former Aston Villa man.

“I don’t think he does need the confidence boost because he’s a more than confident enough kid,” Hirst said. “We see that every day, we know his quality and we see his finishing in training day in, day out.

“The first [goal] is just being in the right place at the right time for Szmods to play that ball across to him. The second one you see his pace and his quality of finishing and calmness and we all know he’s got that.

“I’m really happy for him that he can show that and hopefully he shows that a hell of a lot more and keep scoring.”

Photo: TWTD

ArnieM added 07:26 - Jul 26 If anyone deserves that number 9 shirt, it’s George! He’s never let us down when he’s been fit to play, and he’s never rocked the boat when someone else took that number a 9 for one season. Hirst is a brilliant all round striker, and this season we’ll all see why. Clubs will be after him before the end of this season, I feel sure about that.
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flykickingbybgunn added 07:47 - Jul 26 Good to hear him being really positive about next season. I thought that towards the end of last year he had been watching Delap and had started doing those surging runs that were such a part of Liam's game. Pleased for him and us.
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Edmundo added 07:55 - Jul 26 Fully deserves the 9 shirt: he has been patient, has developed as a player and is far more than a back-up. I think some people still think of him from when he arrived here. He's such an integral part of the way we play. Despite Delap's unbelievable ability, he hadn't got that in his game like Hirst. I'd be happy to have another younger player in as a striker, but not ahead of him.

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ImAbeliever added 08:48 - Jul 26 I’m a GH fan and agree with all the above posts.
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Blue_Heath added 09:27 - Jul 26 No 9 shirt is definitely his, just need him to stay fit for the season now.
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Bazza8564 added 09:48 - Jul 26 Great posts above. Good to see positivity. Hirsty has come on leaps and bounds, great that we have him on a long deal now. We still need some cover for him, if only to make sure he doesnt burn out, but hes started this season so well
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MK1 added 22:18 - Jul 26 George Hirst will be vital to our success this coming season. I think if we keep him fit for more than 75% of the season, then we go straight back up. Obviously we will be bringing in a back up, but GH is the main man.
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