Mansfield Town winger CJ Hamilton believes it is only a matter of time before he recaptures his form of last season.
The 24-year-old was immense last term, registering 14 goals and nine assists in an impressive campaign which saw him named in the Sky Bet League Two Team of the Season.
Speaking at a news conference this morning at The RH Academy – the club’s training ground – Hamilton declared his determination to break his goalscoring deadlock in 2019-20, as well as adding to his two assists.
He said: “This year hasn’t gone the way I thought or wanted it to but I’ve got to keep working hard to try and get myself back to the way I was performing last season, or better.
“Coming off the back of a good season, going into the next, you just want to carry on what you did in the last. Obviously I was scoring and assisting [last season], this time, in terms of scoring, I haven’t got off the mark yet – that’s what I’m trying to do at the moment,” he added.
“I’m feeling confident at the minute, I just need to bring that out on the pitch and prove that’s the case. Everyone will see the confidence I have once I start scoring, which I believe will happen.
“My main target is still to do better than last season. There are a lot of games to go so I think it’s still possible. I’ve got a couple of assists to my name, I just need that goal and then I think they’ll start coming regularly.”
Hamilton also feels as though the Stags have been much better than their results have implied in recent weeks, citing Saturday’s defeat to league leaders Swindon as a prime example.
“Obviously everyone’s working hard to put things right. Hopefully that happens soon because people are getting frustrated now, not just the fans, everyone around the club.
“We know we’re a lot better than what we’ve been showing and I hope that’ll come to the fore really soon.
“The second-half on Saturday, playing against top of the league [Swindon], we should’ve been scoring the chances we had. We created a lot going forward and played good football – if we keep doing that, it’s going to come together at some stage,” he explained.
The wideman will be aiming to begin a positive run of form on Saturday as the Stags face League One side Shrewsbury Town in the FA Cup. Ahead of the clash, the speedster declared his adoration for the world’s most famous domestic club competition.
He said: “Everyone loves playing in the FA Cup, you always like to get big ties. Everyone wants to get through to the next round and on Saturday there’s that opportunity.
“They’ll be a good side, they’re in the league above, doing well and we have the chance to go there and upset them.
“The FA Cup’s full of upsets so the lower league teams will always try to upset the bigger clubs, that’s what we’ll be looking to do on Saturday.
“It’s going to be tough, it always is when you go away to a League One side. They’re going to be strong but we have a chance to go there and produce a surprise.”
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