JONATHAN AFOLABI WOULD have the same thought running through his mind after failing to score during the first few months of the season.
“On the way back from a game sitting at the back of the bus I would be thinking ‘What if? What if I stood here? What if I made some type of run?’ I was trying to tell myself that at least my work wasn’t going unnoticed,” the Bohemians striker recalls of a period in which he only found the net twice before June.
“The manager would tell me that what I was doing was helping with the build up play so it never got me down. I was always looking forward to the next game and see how I could help again. It’s way better now with the missing piece of the puzzle. Goals win games so that’s the main thing.”
Afolabi is in what he admits is the form of his life. The 23-year-old picked up the SSE Airtrcity/Soccer Writers’ Ireland player of the month for July on the back of scoring in four consecutive games.
It’s a streak that stretches to the previous month, when he found the net with a stunner against Shamrock Rovers to kickstart a comeback from 2-0 down.
It was also the catalyst for his own revival, scoring in six Premier Division games on the bounce as well as in the FAI Cup in between.
“I’d like to say the penny has dropped,” he reasons. “Working on it in training, if you’ve got plenty of coaches the way we have they have already seen it and been there, or they have defended against someone who is really good at it you can always get tips that way. And the clips too, they help a lot,” Afolabi continues.
“You can watch and see exactly what time you should make a movement or throw a defender off with a double movement. All these things are there to help you and it’s just a case of going out and trying to perfect it.
“Earlier in the season I was playing well but I wouldn’t be great about it, I wouldn’t be feeling great about it. I knew I put in a shift and ran my arse off but a goal didn’t come. The lads in the team would always keep me up. They all picked me up and told me I was playing really well and would only be a matter of time. And it was only a matter of time. Things have just come together now.”
Afolabi’s run of nine goals in seven consecutive fixtures in which he has played – he was rested for a Leinster Senior League tie on 3 July – is on a par with Frank Fullen in 1937/38, although he scored 11 times.
Fullen, Jimmy Bermingham (1926/27) and Dave Roberts (1923/24) have scored in eight games in a row, as well as Glen Crowe when he netted 14 times in eight appearances during the 2000/01 campaign.
Bohs ended as champions that season, two points ahead of Shelbourne, and it’s shaping up to be a similarly tight run-in this term, albeit with more interested parties.
The Gypsies are currently third and face second-placed St Patrick’s Athletic at a sold-out Richmond Park tonight – a venue Afolabi scored his first goal of this season. Victory would see them leapfrog the Saints and, should Shels beat leader Shamrock Rovers at Tolka Park, the gap at the top would be just two points.
“It would be a bit naive to say no [that they're not in the title race], but we will take games as they come,” the Dubliner added. “There’s no rush, there’s nothing you can do to speed any process up so you have to take it game by game and the next game is against St Pat’s – second against third, so that will be a big one. That’s all we’re looking at. We’ll definitely take it game by game but there are things to work towards for the end of the season.”
And if he maintains his current strike rate the former Soutampton, Celtic and Ireland youth player could have another decision to make about where his future lies.
“Definitely I would be thinking more shorter term now, to just enjoy what I have now and keep doing what I’m doing. I haven’t really thought of anything further than that because your performance speaks for itself.
“When I was younger and moved away you would be looking in the future trying to see where you could possibly be and where you could end up so you just have to re-evaluate when you’re going forward.”
