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Christian Doidge reckons Wanderers are on their way to curing their perceived problems in front of goal.
No side in the Championship has attempted fewer shots, or landed more on target than Phil Parkinson’s team in the first 13 games of the season.
But their apparent shyness in front of goal has not stopped the Whites gathering 16 points, putting them way ahead of where they were 12 months earlier.
New signing Doidge showed that quality, rather than quantity, has been just as important by levelling the scores at Rotherham on Saturday with only Wanderers’ second shot on target.
But the striker acknowledges there is work to be done and as the team prepares to face Nottingham Forest, Doidge feels a change in shape could point the way to more creativity in attack.
“We’ve been doing a lot of shooting practice recently and sometimes it is instinct like that (his goal against Rotherham), it dropped to me lovely and I managed to put my foot through it, so it nestled in the corner,” he said.
“But everyone knows you’ve got to score goals to win games – and we need to create more for the front boys.
“I think Josh (Magennis) has done fantastic since he came in, scored goals, and Clayton was brilliant against Rotherham so as a team we’ve got to feed our strikers a lot more. We’re trying to do that.
“We changed our shape and played two up front and I think that helped us a bit. We got more ball in their box. In all I think it worked okay.”
Should Parkinson persist with the 3-5-2 system he played at Rotherham, it could open the door for Doidge to make his second start for Wanderers.
The former Forest Green man accepts the first, which came in a disappointing home defeat to QPR, did not go according to plan. But with more game time in the Championship now under his belt he feels he would be better placed to handle a run in the team.
“The gaffer threw me in straight away against QPR and I probably didn’t do myself justice. Now it’s about getting more game time and goals,” he said.
“I think it’s about consistency in the Championship and in the games I’ve had so far I’ve done some good stuff and some bad stuff. I am only going to get there by getting minutes on the pitch.
“To be fair to the manager, he’s been throwing me on and giving me opportunities off the bench. It’s up to me to show I warrant a start now.”
Doidge now feels more settled after moving up from Gloucestershire, especially after opening his goal-scoring account at the weekend.
“It’s felt like a long time since I celebrated a goal because I used to score regularly at Forest Green, I’m just happy to have one under my belt now,” he said.
“When you go to a new club you want to score as quickly as possible. It can feel like ages. But hopefully having got one now I can push on and score more.
“I couldn’t have joined a better club in regards to the manager and the bunch of boys who are here. There’s a lot of experienced lads and been to clubs where they don’t know anyone, so they have been really good to me.”
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No side in the Championship has attempted fewer shots, or landed more on target than Phil Parkinson’s team in the first 13 games of the season.
But their apparent shyness in front of goal has not stopped the Whites gathering 16 points, putting them way ahead of where they were 12 months earlier.
New signing Doidge showed that quality, rather than quantity, has been just as important by levelling the scores at Rotherham on Saturday with only Wanderers’ second shot on target.
But the striker acknowledges there is work to be done and as the team prepares to face Nottingham Forest, Doidge feels a change in shape could point the way to more creativity in attack.
“We’ve been doing a lot of shooting practice recently and sometimes it is instinct like that (his goal against Rotherham), it dropped to me lovely and I managed to put my foot through it, so it nestled in the corner,” he said.
“But everyone knows you’ve got to score goals to win games – and we need to create more for the front boys.
“I think Josh (Magennis) has done fantastic since he came in, scored goals, and Clayton was brilliant against Rotherham so as a team we’ve got to feed our strikers a lot more. We’re trying to do that.
“We changed our shape and played two up front and I think that helped us a bit. We got more ball in their box. In all I think it worked okay.”
Should Parkinson persist with the 3-5-2 system he played at Rotherham, it could open the door for Doidge to make his second start for Wanderers.
The former Forest Green man accepts the first, which came in a disappointing home defeat to QPR, did not go according to plan. But with more game time in the Championship now under his belt he feels he would be better placed to handle a run in the team.
“The gaffer threw me in straight away against QPR and I probably didn’t do myself justice. Now it’s about getting more game time and goals,” he said.
“I think it’s about consistency in the Championship and in the games I’ve had so far I’ve done some good stuff and some bad stuff. I am only going to get there by getting minutes on the pitch.
“To be fair to the manager, he’s been throwing me on and giving me opportunities off the bench. It’s up to me to show I warrant a start now.”
Doidge now feels more settled after moving up from Gloucestershire, especially after opening his goal-scoring account at the weekend.
“It’s felt like a long time since I celebrated a goal because I used to score regularly at Forest Green, I’m just happy to have one under my belt now,” he said.
“When you go to a new club you want to score as quickly as possible. It can feel like ages. But hopefully having got one now I can push on and score more.
“I couldn’t have joined a better club in regards to the manager and the bunch of boys who are here. There’s a lot of experienced lads and been to clubs where they don’t know anyone, so they have been really good to me.”
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