Ethan Chislett says he’s been putting in the extra graft to rediscover his scoring touch at a pivotal time for everyone connected with the club.
Just two games are remaining before the Plough Lane return night versus Doncaster, starting with our final home game at QPR tonight against Blackpool. The midfielder brought in from Aldershot in the summer had almost hit double figures in the National League by March before the season was curtailed prematurely, and he was quick off the mark here with a goal after 20 seconds at Northampton.
Speaking ahead of tonight’s match versus Blackpool, Ethan talked about the work he’s putting in on the training ground to get back among the goals.
“I am just trying to do my best for the team, if that means scoring or assisting that’s what I want to do,” said Ethan. “If I’m not doing that, I’m my own harshest critic. The gaffer is brilliant with the boys, he has very good man-management skills, and you can always talk to Dawsy. Together they work really well and I’ve worked quite a lot with Robbo, just doing one-to-one practice on parts of my game. He loves that because he’s football obsessed! I have heard about the Newcastle FA Youth Cup game when he said he did his homework on their goalkeeper. It’s all those extra bits that can pay off on the pitch.
“My Dad had been giving me advice, mostly on things I can do better! It’s part and parcel of football, I take it on the chin, and work harder each day.
“It’s quite difficult with the physical aspects and how quick the game is, but I am feeling sharp and fit, and I’m raring to go. I still need to impose myself more on games. Moving up from Aldershot to this level, I feel that players are more intelligent, whether that’s because they’ve played in a higher division, or because they want to make the most of themselves after getting the opportunity in League One.”
Training at Plough Lane has provided a welcome change for the squad – and Ethan can’t wait to get out there and play a match.
“We have trained on it a couple of times now and the pitch is unbelievable, it’s really coming along day by day. I have been here four or five times now and it keeps getting better and better. Unfortunately, the fans can’t be there, which is certainly a negative, but on the plus side it’s a great stadium and we want to kick off with a win against Doncaster. Hopefully, we can make this a fortress with lots of goals for us and not many against.
“It’s another league game coming up, and we want to win every single match that we play. Personally, I don’t think there has been a team that has overly impressed this season against us, where we’ve thought, ‘we didn’t deserve anything out of the game, or they were just better than us’. I don’t think that has been the case. We will go there on Tuesday in high spirits with a positive mentality and hopefully get the three points.”
Pic credit: Trevor Williams.
Ethan joked that his team-mate Joe Pigott still hasn’t apologised for the shot that knocked him out during the match versus Shrewsbury! You can watch the full video interview by clicking on the link below.