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Brandon Fleming wants to return to Hull City in the summer feeling a new man.
The young full-back arrived on loan last week and was plunged immediately into a debut against Portsmouth, faring well in a narrow 1-0 defeat.
His first team chances on Humberside had been limited of late, as Callum Elder and Stephen Kingsley edged ahead of him in the Championship reckoning, but he comes to Bolton looking to make every appearance count.
“I have to be realistic about it,” he told The Bolton News. “I got a little run of games at Hull but when there are players in front of you sometimes you have to hold your hand up and say they deserve to be playing.
“That was the important thing about going to Bolton. I didn’t want to sit there and watch. It can be a mentally tough job at the best of times but it’s more so when you are not playing games.
“Ideally, I go back there in the summer and show them I have improved as a footballer. If it doesn’t work out then we’ll look at that but right now I am planning to work as hard as I can for Bolton and use my time here as well as I possibly can.”
Fleming moved to the North West with the blessing of Tigers boss Grant McCann, and is held in high regard on Humberside where he made his way through the club’s youth system from an early age.
But the 20-year-old’s desire to play more regularly made a loan move an appealing proposition for the second half of the season and he had little doubt over swapping the Championship for a relegation fight in League One.
“When the manager at Hull spoke to me to say that Bolton were interested, he knew that I wanted to go out and get some games, so to be honest I bit his hand off.
“They thought it would be great for me, and then hopefully get back there in pre-season and fight for my place.
“The more games you play at my age, it all adds to the CV and it will benefit me in the future.”
Fleming says he has settled well in a new dressing room. Although he ended up on the losing side on Saturday in his Bolton debut his performance brought praise from manager Keith Hill and fans alike.
“I think we were unlucky not to get anything from the game and I think the fans recognised that because a lot stayed behind and clapped us off. They could see we had given 110 per cent,” he said.
“Getting straight in there was a good way to earn respect in the changing room. I hadn’t had long to settle in but the lads could see I was up for a fight.
“I haven’t played that much so I still need to get my match sharpness and fitness back. But I was pretty happy with the way I played. It was a strong 90 minutes “ On the fight he faces at Bolton, who are 17 points from safety with 20 games to play, Fleming refuses to write off the next few months as an exercise in going through the motions.
“Until it’s mathematically impossible we have to keep fighting,” he said. “Stranger things have happened in football than Bolton getting out of the relegation zone and there are good players here, it’s just a matter of getting on that run and putting more pressure on the teams above us.”
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The young full-back arrived on loan last week and was plunged immediately into a debut against Portsmouth, faring well in a narrow 1-0 defeat.
His first team chances on Humberside had been limited of late, as Callum Elder and Stephen Kingsley edged ahead of him in the Championship reckoning, but he comes to Bolton looking to make every appearance count.
“I have to be realistic about it,” he told The Bolton News. “I got a little run of games at Hull but when there are players in front of you sometimes you have to hold your hand up and say they deserve to be playing.
“That was the important thing about going to Bolton. I didn’t want to sit there and watch. It can be a mentally tough job at the best of times but it’s more so when you are not playing games.
“Ideally, I go back there in the summer and show them I have improved as a footballer. If it doesn’t work out then we’ll look at that but right now I am planning to work as hard as I can for Bolton and use my time here as well as I possibly can.”
Fleming moved to the North West with the blessing of Tigers boss Grant McCann, and is held in high regard on Humberside where he made his way through the club’s youth system from an early age.
But the 20-year-old’s desire to play more regularly made a loan move an appealing proposition for the second half of the season and he had little doubt over swapping the Championship for a relegation fight in League One.
“When the manager at Hull spoke to me to say that Bolton were interested, he knew that I wanted to go out and get some games, so to be honest I bit his hand off.
“They thought it would be great for me, and then hopefully get back there in pre-season and fight for my place.
“The more games you play at my age, it all adds to the CV and it will benefit me in the future.”
Fleming says he has settled well in a new dressing room. Although he ended up on the losing side on Saturday in his Bolton debut his performance brought praise from manager Keith Hill and fans alike.
“I think we were unlucky not to get anything from the game and I think the fans recognised that because a lot stayed behind and clapped us off. They could see we had given 110 per cent,” he said.
“Getting straight in there was a good way to earn respect in the changing room. I hadn’t had long to settle in but the lads could see I was up for a fight.
“I haven’t played that much so I still need to get my match sharpness and fitness back. But I was pretty happy with the way I played. It was a strong 90 minutes “ On the fight he faces at Bolton, who are 17 points from safety with 20 games to play, Fleming refuses to write off the next few months as an exercise in going through the motions.
“Until it’s mathematically impossible we have to keep fighting,” he said. “Stranger things have happened in football than Bolton getting out of the relegation zone and there are good players here, it’s just a matter of getting on that run and putting more pressure on the teams above us.”
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