George Hirst struck twice against Queens Park Rangers to take his tally to five for the season, but the Town striker believes he should have more goals to his name this term.

Hirst was one of two players to score a brace at Loftus Road during the Blues’ 4-1 victory in west London, with Marcelino Núñez netting his first two goals for the club from a pair of outstanding free-kicks.

Having nodded Town in front after just 68 seconds, Hirst scored another header in the second half in front of a sold-out away end to mark his fifth goal of the campaign.

“It should be more, I’ll be the first to admit that,” he said. “But that’s the life of a striker, sometimes they just don’t go in the back of the net.

“I’m the first person to look at myself, I don’t blame anybody else. It’s only me that can put it in the back of the net when I get to those positions. If I wasn’t getting chances I’d be a lot more worried, but I’m always confident in my ability.

“There’s going to be times in the season where you maybe don’t score for two, three or four games, but you keep doing the right things in training, keep doing the right things on a matchday and ultimately they’ll start to go in.”

Hirst has taken three penalties so far this season but failed to score from two of them, seeing his spot-kick saved at Middlesbrough last month after he was unable to convert in the Carabao Cup shootout at Bromley.

Despite not making the most of opportunities in recent weeks, the 26-year-old insists he always backs himself to score and does not let missed chances affect his confidence.

He said: “The level of quality that I’ve got around me when I’m playing up there, I think there’s no better in the league. It’s just about me continuing to put myself in the right positions.

“When the opportunities come, staying cool, staying calm and doing everything I can to put them in the back of the net.

“You can’t get too upset by missing a chance. Ultimately, I try and score every single chance that I get, I'm never trying to miss them. Whether it’s me or something else around me, sometimes they just don’t go in.

“I’m the first person to look at myself. Sometimes I’ll be a little bit too hard on myself so I’m trying to get out of that habit and think the next one, next one, next one. You miss one, there’s another one coming so keep doing the right things.

“The same when they are going in, if you score one it’s the next one. You can’t dwell on it whether it’s gone in or it’s not gone in, it’s part and parcel of being a striker.

“I’ll just keep putting myself in the right positions as often as possible and the more chances I get, the more goals I’ll get.”

The opening goal at QPR came after Sindre Walle Egeli had burst beyond Esquerdinha down the right and placed a pinpoint cross onto Hirst’s head a few yards from goal.

Walle Egeli continued to show flashes of his quality after the teenager arrived at Portman Road for a Championship record fee towards the end of the summer transfer window.

The Norwegian drew plenty of praise from Hirst, who believes staying grounded will be the best avenue for future success.

“He’s incredible,” he said. “He’s got an incredible left foot and his right foot’s not bad as you saw with the cross. He’s got a bright future, he’s just got to keep working hard.

“I’m certainly not going to let off him, I’ll be on him every single day in the right way. He’s got a massive future and hopefully he keeps improving for us.

“He’s still really young. I thought he was brilliant today, his work off the ball as with Jaden [Philogene] on the other side.

“Games like [QPR] are always going to be tough for the wingers, they’re not going to have hundreds of opportunities to go one-v-one and do the stuff that they want to do. To work as hard as they both did, and we get the goals from that.”

Saturday’s victory, Town’s first on the road this season, lifted Kieran McKenna’s side into ninth place in the Championship table after 12 matches of the campaign.

Put to him that the Blues are closing in on the top six, Hirst said: “That’s not something we’re too focused on, to be honest. It’s about us, it’s about performances, it’s about results.

“We’ve had a lot of new signings, we don’t use it as an excuse anymore but at the same time there are little details that sometimes take a little bit longer and that’s just that.

“We’ll keep working hard in training every single day, if we can keep starting games and pushing on in games, then hopefully we can keep winning games.”

Photo: IMAGO/PPAUK via Reuters Connect

Talbs77 added 15:22 - Nov 2 You don’t become a bad player overnight. He’s a typical confidence player, hopefully he’s fit for Tuesday. No doubt he’s central to us going up whether people like him or not. A good result yesterday have to follow it up Tuesday.
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ArnieM added 15:31 - Nov 2 Hirst is farfrom a bad player. He's just nit had enough support from midfield and had been trying to do everyhing up front on his own. Win the ball, hold it up, bring others into play, and get in the box! McKenna FINALLY plays Taylor in a further forward MF position, and through enforced changes in the WBA gane, bring Nunez in at #10.... and the difference to Hirst is immediate. Big question now is, will McKenna keep things as they are??

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Barty added 15:33 - Nov 2 Well done George and hope you will be fit for Tuesday night
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WestSussexBlue added 16:20 - Nov 2 Nice player, I like George a lot and I want to see more of the Hirst that was so effective at the tail end of the League One promotion season. I do agree though, he has missed opportunities. With neither Azon or Akpom chipping in with too many goals either, then we’re relying on George to score more. Right behind you George.
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BlueRuin69 added 17:07 - Nov 2 Well done George, still get goosebumps when l think of Barnsley! COYB
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Ipswichbusiness added 17:12 - Nov 2 All strikers thrive on service and those two crosses from Egalitarian were so good that my cat could have put them away. Well done all the same!
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Ipswichbusiness added 17:16 - Nov 2 Should have read Egeli (more proof reading required!)
0

Mark added 18:17 - Nov 2 I like Hirst's attitude, and hope he can push on from here. He is joint 9th top Championship goalscorer with five goals, which is as many as Josh Sargent.
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SussexTractor added 18:54 - Nov 2 Nunez is the playmaker that needs to start every game. He is also the best free kick specialist since Reuser.
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bobble added 21:16 - Nov 2 Nunez should take the penalties he seems to be able to place the ball exactly where he want..
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midastouch added 21:16 - Nov 2 Hirst Headers = Bread & Butter Hirst Penalties = Dread & Stutter
8

Daniel72 added 22:00 - Nov 2 George is a good man.. glad he got the chance to carry on up the number nine
1

chripswich added 03:32 - Nov 3 Will only start to think he is anything other than bang average at this level when a few 50/50 chances start to hit the net. Or when a few ‘one on ones’ result in goals. And he should stop taking penalties. One on ones and penalties require not only confidence but a cool head, not sure he has that. I do want to be wrong. But In any case he is simply not a prem striker and we should be building some kind of spine that can at least survive short term if we go up. We can’t totally dismantle a promoted team again. Come January if we are ‘there or there abouts’ a real quality finisher needs to be bought. They don’t grow on trees obviously - but the recruitment dept need to be assessing the market NOW, both here and abroad. Also a quality centre back. O’Shea is not just prem standard. The rest? I think we could survive.

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chripswich added 03:33 - Nov 3 Typo.. just not prem standard
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virginblue added 10:19 - Nov 3 Hurst’s first touch was dreadful for a spell of 3 or 4 games. That is nothing to do with formation or other players. He just played poorly. Let’s hope Saturday turns his confidence and form round.
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StowTractor added 11:17 - Nov 3 Midastouch, that made my laugh. Really pleased for George, hopefully gives him confidence now and he keeps getting good service in the air.
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JewellintheTown added 11:52 - Nov 3 Decent bloke is Hirst. He's definitely affected by confidence, but there's a fine balance between confidence and arrogance. Hopefully a period of lessons learnt for him and confidence boosted. Good luck to him.
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SpiritOfJohn added 11:54 - Nov 3 George Hirst is a good striker when he gets the right service. He is good in the air and makes good runs. However, he is too unselfish to be a prolific goal scorer and sometimes struggles with his back to goal. He is a good honest pro and always gives 100% so deserves our support even when he has a lean spell.
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MathieandMarshall added 13:02 - Nov 3 No secret that Hirst has struggled this season, not just missing chances but general hold up play/touch has been was off it. We've seen previously though how good he can play in our system and he's clearly (like most Forwards - think Philiogene) a confidence player. If we think back to his previous Championship campaign he thrived off having a wide man playing on his natural side - Wes Burns going outside on his right foot and getting crosses in to the box/Leif from the left. This season we've had a right footer cutting in from left and left footer cutting in from the right. This is obviously the modern way, but maybe doesn't help a Hirst type who needs those early crosses. Saturday was no coincidence that Sindre beats his man outside, stands a cross up to far post and Hirst put it away. Anyway... pleased he converted two at the weekend. Should be big for his confidence! hopefully fit to start again tomorrow.

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TimmyH added 13:52 - Nov 3 He's generally good in the air but not so on the deck...both quality crosses is what he craves.
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