The Swansea City striker will line up at St. Marys this afternoon looking for his 10th goal in 10 games in what is turning into a very large purple patch for the striker.
It echoes his form of this time last season where he romped clear as the League One leading scorer and he is now within four of the leading scorer in the Championship – Kevin Doyle – bringing hope to all those who backed him at long odds at the start of the season.
And that form he believes is finally winning round the sections of the crowd who were critical of his play despite a more than impressive return that sees him closing in on 50 goals for the club in less than two seasons.
Speaking to the Western Mail, the striker said “A lot of people from the outside who hadn’t seen us, were quick to say things like we couldn’t do it here, and a lot of people found it easy to criticise me personally, saying I would never do it in the Championship.
“When I came to League One people were saying I couldn’t make the step up because I’d only been playing in the Scottish First Division. I made that step, then they said I couldn’t step up to the Championship.
“But I’ve done that and got 14 goals – but give it a few weeks and there will probably be those who start saying I could never step up to the Premiership.
“You can’t win, but you can accept the challenges to prove people wrong. It has spurred me on to do even better, and it still does.
“I don’t know whether some people still have their doubts about me, that’s up to them.
“And it’s the same for the good things that people have said after the Portsmouth game, we just get on with things.
“A lot of people have said some nice things about us and it’s probably credit we deserve,” he said.
“But, as a team, we know we’ve been like this at the start of last season and rather than be the exception it’s normal for us.
“We’re still finding our way in this division, so perhaps that’s why people haven’t taken notice before, but we knocked Portsmouth out – and not just by beating them but by playing them off the park – and everybody there could see the game we played.
“Of course it’s good to be publicised on a bigger scale for the football we play.
“It was tough at the start because we didn’t know what to expect because some of the teams play their football to play just for results.
“We’re in a division where managers get sacked very quickly if they don’t.
“But, to be fair to our gaffer, we haven’t changed our way and it’s still about putting the ball on the floor and passing it around.
“It’s worked for us to stick to what we’ve shown we can be good at. Everybody can see that now.
“Every striker has their good patches, perhaps earlier in the season they would have gone just wide
“But even when I wasn’t scoring I still felt I should be in the side because of the way I was playing.
“Bringing people into play and holding the ball up is important to the team and perhaps more so than me actually scoring.
“We have three midfielders and guys running beyond me and that’s one thing I know I can do and I feel I’m doing well.
“And I think people are seeing that. I did have one or two fans getting on my back, but the majority of fans got on their back because perhaps they can see I’m doing a bit more.”
CHAMPIONSHIP TOP SCORERS
Doyle (Reading) 17
Ebanks-Blake (Wolves) 16
McCormack (Cardiff) 14
Iwelumo (Wolves) 13
Scotland (Swansea) 13
Smith (Watford) 12
Blackstock (QPR) 11
Phillips (Birmingham) 11
