Promotion-chasing Ipswich Town host Charlton Athletic tomorrow afternoon. STUART WATSON spoke to in-form forward Conor Chaplin ahead of kick-off.
“If you ask Chappers, I'll let him maybe divulge a bit more."
That's all we got out of a smiling George Hirst when he was asked about his golf-themed goal celebrations, alongside Chaplin, against Derby and Wycombe.
Asked if he could do just that, Chaplin said: “Erm, no! That will have to stay in house!
“All I can say is that we've played two golf days now and we're two out of two.
“Hirsty is ridiculous, so I picked my partner well."
Whatever the meaning behind the celebration, let's hope we see it a few more times over the final six games.
Leicester loanee Hirst recently scored four games on the spin and was denied five in five when rattling the crossbar at Cheltenham last weekend.
Chaplin, meanwhile, moved onto 22 goals for the season - 19 in the league - when breaking the deadlock in that 1-1 draw at Whaddon Road on Easter Monday.
“Getting to 20 in the league would be a proud milestone for sure," said the 26-year-old.
"Fingers crossed that comes. I’d sacrifice no goals until the end of the season for six wins though.
“I'll be brutally honest, there’s no point scoring if they don’t matter. I want them to be in wins, I want them to be meaningful and to help the team."
Asked if he had a favourite goal this season, the forward replied: “I know it sounds corny, but the next one.
"I don’t really care how many I’ve scored or what the goals have been like. I’ll revisit that at the end of the season.
“I’ve got six games left now and I just want to score as many goals as possible."
On his finish at Cheltenham, which saw him side-foot home Harry Clarke's long throw into the box, Chaplin said: "I’ve got a knack of that, I have done throughout my whole career. I definitely wasn’t surprised that the ball came to me. If I was going to be surprised I wouldn’t bother going in the box. The reason I’m in there is to sniff out chances like that.
“It was a big one for the team so I was really happy about that."
On the impact January additions Hirst and Nathan Broadhead have made to the attack, Chaplin said: “I think you can tell what good players they both are. Both have different qualities to what we had in the building before.
“They’ve upped the competition and the quality. Everyone is training at a top level. You know if you’re not playing well there are people ready to step into your shoes.
“I think they’ve been a breath of fresh air. All of the additions we made in January have hit the ground running and helped us massively. They’ve got a big part to play in these last six games."
Town are currently third in League One, two points behind league leaders Sheffield Wednesday with a game in hand to come.
On a thrilling automatic promotion battle with the Owls, Plymouth and Barnsley, Chaplin said: “I’ve had my fair share of things to play for at the end of seasons (at Barnsley and Portsmouth), so this is something I’m familiar with.
“This is crunch time and at this stage of the season results are highlighted more than performances.
“But we’re on a process here. We have to keep following that and building on what we’ve done so far.
“It’s been a frightening couple of years in terms of the points accumulated by the top teams in the league. This is a challenge we’re all excited and ready for."
On Monday's draw, where a late equaliser saw an eight-game winning run come to an end, Chaplin reflected: “It wasn’t a tough to get past at all.
"It was one of our hardest away games of the season in terms of conditions.
"It’s always disappointing when you drop a lead but on reflection it could be a really good point come the end of the season."
Town host Charlton tomorrow. The reverse fixture at The Valley ended 4-4 following a dramatic period of stoppage time in which Ipswich scored twice to lead 4-2 only to be quickly pegged back.
“That was nuts, wasn’t it?!" reflected Chaplin. "I'm not sure that game will ever be repeated again.
“Obviously it's a game that should have been won. There were mistakes on our part to let them back in.
“It took some time getting over it for sure. That’s a distant memory now though."
Tomorrow, the Blues come up against two of their players from last season - midfielder Scott Fraser and striker Macauley Bonne.
“We know an awful lot about them," said Chaplin. "Those two are obviously very good players for this level. They’ve also got other threats throughout the team.
“It will be a tough game. It should be a good footballing game because they like to play football."
With Town having won five straight home league games in front of bumper crowds, by an aggregate scoreline of 17-0, Chaplin added: "Playing for a massive football club in front of big crowds is a pressure we’re all thriving on.
"I think you can tell that with the way we’ve been starting games and the results we’ve been getting at home.
“Every time a game comes around at Portman Road we can’t wait. It’s an exciting time to be an Ipswich Town player and we’re relishing the challenge."
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