How Stockton has thrived at Morecambe
BURTON Albion will be up against the striker who has won the League One player of the month award for each of the season’s first two months on Saturday.
Cole Stockton has hit 11 goals already for Morecambe this season and, although he scored 15 times last season in League Two, he certainly counts as a surprise package in the division this time around.
Stockton was one of the players who stayed when a number of Morecambe’s promotion-winning side moved on in the summer.
His had been an unremarkable career, which started with Tranmere Rovers and had previously included two loan spells with Morecambe before six months with Hearts and seven months with Carlisle United before a return to Tranmere, who loaned him to Wrexham in the National League.
Now, he seems to have found a settled place and the goals are flowing – but Morecambe manager Stephen Robinson says his game is about so much more than that.
“Winning it (player of the month) two months in a row just shows his consistency and the levels that he has reached.
“We have pushed him to stay at those levels and he has done that.
“He has worked very hard on his game, we need him fresh and firing for us, the way he holds the ball up and his all-round play is a big part of what we do as a club.
“This is probably one of the reasons why he has won player of the month again, by bringing other players into play and assisting as well as scoring goals.”
Stockton scored five goals in September but it was a beauty against AFC Wimbledon which really got people talking, as he volleyed first time from 40 yards, lifting the ball over the goalkeeper’s head.
“If anyone outside of Morecambe had have scored it or if Ronaldo would have scored it, we would be talking about it for months,” said Robinson.
“He as been fantastic for us over the last two months and I don’t think it’s often that Morecambe would have had a player that has won an award like he has twice in a row.”
Despite the fantastic start to the season, Robinson believes that there is more to come from Stockton.
“I think the only thing he hasn’t scored with yet is his head but he scores all types of goals from different types of angles,” he said.
“I believe that there is a lot more to come from him. I think if he works harder he can get down the sides more.
“I don’t want to take away from what he is good at but if we add that to his game, we could have a real, real good player on our hands.”