Hogan is hoping to maintain hot streak
N“You’re judged on goals and I failed on that in recent years”
O ONE was more surprised than Scott Hogan when he was named to start the Republic of Ireland’s last game, against Ukraine in neutral Lodz.
‘It was just totally unexpected, it was out of the blue,’ recalled the Birmingham City striker yesterday.
Up to then, Hogan hadn’t figured much under Stephen Kenny but injuries to Michael Obafemi and Adam Idah, and doubts over Chiedozie Ogbene, thrust him forward in the days after the sparkling 3-0 win over Scotland.
At 30, it was his first competitive start.
While it meant much, Hogan candidly admitted he didn’t fire as he would have liked.
He was rusty after a stop-start Championship season that had ended several weeks before and was taken off before the hour mark.
‘I hadn’t been playing regularly and it affected my fitness levels. The gaffer (Stephen Kenny) knew that and still put me in. I was just a yard off it which was to be expected,’ he said.
‘It was quite humid but there’s no excuses. It’s just a reminder of having to play regular football to be at that level. Ukraine were a good side so I felt that I struggled physically.’
And now? Hogan is more hulk than husk.
He’s started ten games in the Championship, bagged five goals, including a hat-trick away at West Brom. He feels wanted, appreciated and it has been reflected in his performances.
‘I’m happy now at my club, which is the first time that I’ve been able to say that in four or five years.’
It helps to have a manager in John Eustace who knows Hogan from his brief spell on Kenny’s coaching staff, and who believes in him.
‘I have a great relationship with him. He wants me to do well here,’ said Hogan, who feels a lot sharper than he did in June.
‘I spoke to the gaffer this morning. He said if that Ukraine game was tomorrow, it would be a totally different story.’
Asked if he expected to keep his place in the team tomorrow, Hogan didn’t fudge about it being up to the manager.
‘No,’ he said, before explaining why. ‘I think you got to look at the last performances. The two lads who played against Scotland were outstanding. Robbo (Callum Robinson) has scored plenty of goals and done well.
‘Obviously, you want to start but I can’t feel hard done by because the lads before me have performed to a high standard.’
It helps that Hogan has goals on his 2022-23 season CV. More than Robinson, Obafemi, Troy Parrott and level with in-form Chiedozie Ogbene, who also has five. The recent hat-trick against the Baggies has given him a huge lift.
‘I’d waited five years since my last one although I wasn’t thinking that during the game,’ he said. ‘It is cliche to say, “You think of the team” but when it got to 3-2, I’m thinking “We can’t lose this now. If we draw, it won’t feel the same”.
‘It was back-to-back wins and at Birmingham we hadn’t had that for 12 months. I can’t do that on my own, the type of player that I am. I need people behind me. I was delighted. It was nice to have a winning feeling for Birmingham once.’
Before the game, Kenny got in touch, which was timely.
‘He texted me on the way (to the match) and I rang him back. We just had a brief chat.
‘Obviously, Dara (O’Shea) was captaining West Brom so there was a bit of banter on the phone about that.
‘He (Kenny) did say “Don’t go around kicking him, just take the one goal, I don’t want his confidence going!” and I ended up scoring three!’
The goals are clearly giving Hogan a buzz. Because it’s all about scoring.
‘A million per cent, otherwise you would not be a striker. You are judged on goals and I failed in that aspect in the past few years,’ he said with admirable honesty. A check on the statistics indicates a return of 29 goals in 99 games for Birmingham which is half decent at a team where goals have been scarce, while Hogan’s career tally of 124 in 348 club appearances is also respectable. For Ireland it’s zero from 11 caps but Hogan has only started once under Kenny and before that, twice under Mick McCarthy. Might this window see him get off the mark? ‘Hopefully, we’ll see.’ Hogan is a grafter who graduated from the nonleagues to earn his spurs in the Championship. Like Jon Walters before him, he’s served a tough apprenticeship and will spend every ounce of energy to hold what he has fought so hard for. ‘I don’t like to think that I’m peaking. I’d like to think that I’m improving,’ he added. Hogan is Ireland’s hero. It’s a headline waiting to happen.