Billy Clarke has backed himself to reach 20 goals for Crawley Town this season.
The Reds’ top scorer took his tally to ten in yesterday’s 3-0 defeat of Colchester, and is keen to register his most prolific season yet.
Clarke’s best return to date saw him net 17 times in the 2008-09 season, during spells at Darlington, Northampton and Brentford, and he now says he is close to the best form of his career.
“I’m having a regular run in the team which I have not had for a couple of years, and I am just happy to be playing and scoring, which is showing itself on the pitch,” he said.
“I could have had two or three against Colchester, and probably should have scored from Mark’s (Connolly) goal. Hopefully I can get to 20. But I think here we have four or five players who will get into double figures. I think Hope Akpan, Nicky Adams, and Josh Simpson will, and although he has not scored many lately, Gary Alexander will get into double figures.
“I’m sure there will be a phase where Gary is scoring and I am not. We have to not get too down when you are not scoring and not too high when you are.”
Clarke, 25, has scored eight in his last 13 appearances and appears to be flourishing under manager Richie Barker.
After signing from Blackpool in January last year, Clarke scored three times in 17 appearances.
He added: “I suppose it’s down to the type of football we play. With no disrespect to the football we played last year, when I came into the team it was lumped on top of me and I could not do much with it. From pre-season, we have showed that when we do play football we are good.”