Now approaching the end of his debut campaign as a Football League player, striker Ollie Palmer admits his confidence has continuously grown since he joined us.
The 22-year-old put pen-to-paper on a deal to join us from Havant & Waterlooville the day before the start of the season and has since netted five goals in all competitions.
Palmer has been in good form in recent weeks, scoring in our 1-1 draw at Northampton Town and also playing key roles in our winning goals against both Hartlepool United and AFC Wimbledon.
āMy confidence is growing and hitting strikes from anywhere was what I was doing at my previous clubs,ā said Palmer.
āI think Iāve grown up a lot and I understand the game a little bit better. Iāve still got a lot to learn and I know Iām not the finished article, but this season has been a fantastic learning curve.
āI didnāt have a pre-season with the club and I got chucked in straight at the deep end, so the gaffer has had to nurture me through and play me at different times, but itās been a fantastic season for me and Iāve enjoyed every minute of it.
āIf I can get better and bring it into next season and have a great season with the club, who knows whatās going to happen.ā
He continued: āI was gutted not to score [against Chesterfield] as it would have been fantastic to have taken all three points. I would have had nice accolades from it, but itās about the team.
āWe played well against Chesterfield and then went away to Hartlepool and won 4-2 and it was 11 fantastic individual performances from the boys.
āThatās the most important thing at the moment and if we can finish the season on a fantastic run, the better it is for the club.ā Ā
The youngster has also praised the contribution of team-mate Matt Rhead, whom Palmer has formed a good partnership with since he came back into the starting line-up in March.
āHeās a very strong, unique centre-forward,ā said Palmer.Ā
āHe wins most of his headers, he holds the ball up very well, heās a got touch and heāll nick you the odd goal too. Heās fantastic at what he does and thatās a massive credit to him.ā
Meanwhile, Palmer also defended our direct style of play, insisting that it has been effective on many occasions this season.
āI watched Manchester United the other night and they were playing ālong ballā football against Bayern Munich. Sometimes thatās the way youāve got to play,ā said the forward.
āThere have been times when weāve played some fantastic football and played well, but maybe not got a result. So weāve shown that if we play ādirectā we get better results and thatās important at this stage of the season.ā
Our team could take another step towards achieving mathematical safety in Sky Bet League Two if we win what Palmerās expects will be a tough match at Morecambe on Saturday.
Ā āIf we can go to Morecambe and pick up three points, that would be fantastic, but the boys know that we canāt afford to get complacent,ā said the striker.
āI donāt think theyāve won in a couple of weeks, so theyāll be desperate to pick up all three points at home. We know itās going to be a tough game, but if we can put in the same [level of] performance like we have been of late, hopefully weāll take all three points.ā
An interview with Ollie Palmer will be available to watch on Stags Player later today. To subscribe, click here.