Fleetwood's Rosler welcomes back his goal-Hunter

Fleetwood forward Ash Hunter was glad to get that goal-den feeling back and says the only way is up.
Ash Hunter equalises from the spotAsh Hunter equalises from the spot
Ash Hunter equalises from the spot

Hunter rifled home a last-gasp equaliser from the penalty spot in Town’s 2-2 Highbury draw with Oldham.

Game time has been limited for the 21-year-old this season due to competition for places, but after knuckling down and impressing in the development squad games and off the bench against AFC Wimbledon and Bristol Rovers, the striker finally opened his account on Saturday.

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After a roaring start to last season, which saw him score nine goals before Christmas, Hunter only netted twice in the remainder of the campaign.

Saturday’s spot-kick was only Hunter’s third goal of 2017 but he hopes to kick on from here, with the chance of a starting spot at home to Bury tomorrow now more likely.

He said: “It feels good. I haven’t really been scoring many in 2017, so to get off the mark early in the season is nice for me and hopefully I can beat last season’s score of 11.”

Hunter equalised three minutes into stoppage time, after fellow frontman Devante Cole was felled in the box by George Edmundson.

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It looked like Cole was ready to take the spot-kick himself and bid for a fifth goal in four games, but Hunter says a friendly word in his ear and the orders of head coach Uwe Rosler prevented that.

And Hunter thanked Cole, a deadline day target for Championship club Sheffield United.

He said: “I just said to Devante, ‘Come on, you’ve scored a few. I haven’t scored and I need it’.

“The gaffer told Ash Eastham to tell him it was my penalty. I was happy to take it, though I was nervous to be fair.

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“The gaffer told Ash Eastham to tell him it was my penalty. I was happy to take it, though I was nervous to be fair.

“It was nice of Devante to let me take it because he has been scoring and is in good form. He could have said, ‘No, I’m taking it.’ He did really well to win the penalty, so I’m going to give him most of the credit.”

Rosler was pleased that Hunter is back on track. The Town boss said: “Ash had struggled a little bit at the beginning of the season but lately he has been back to the good Hunter, the effective Hunter.

“He has been starting development games and over time he has played well. We put him in against AFC Wimbledon but also against Bristol Rovers he was very effective.

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“He carried on with that against Oldham. I’m happy for him because we need him. We need his goals.

“He was the second-best goalscorer in our team last season, and we need him functioning and scoring.

“He made another step in the right direction.”