MARRIOTT HAS THE KEY TO SUCCESS
Posh striker learns to stop worrying and now he can’t stop scoring goals
JACK MARRIOTT used to beat himself up – but is now battering League One defences.
Marriott is scoring freely for Peterborough now he is stress free when he steps on the pitch thanks to sessions with a psychologist while at Ipswich.
The 22-year-old striker has bagged six goals in his last three League One games for tabletopping Posh and boss Grant McCann (above) to show why one of his former Tractor Boy mentors Malcolm Moore once said he has “a horrible knack of scoring goals”.
And he said: “I used to see a sports psychologist when I was at Ipswich and learnt an awful lot from that and am in a better place for it now. As I’ve got older I have been able to deal with dips in form and setbacks a lot easier because I am more mature and not thinking it is the end of the world if you don’t play or something.
“I used to beat myself up a lot as a kid and they recommended me to go and see her at Ipswich and it was great for me.
“When you would make a mistake or miss a chance I would get hung up rather than let it go.
“Seeing a psychologist was a great learning curve and it was good to learn more about myself, doing that side of things.
“On the pitch it means you are not stressing about the small things. You’re mind is free and you’re not over-thinking everything.
“As soon as you miss a chance, it’s gone and you’re on to the next one. You might not score the next one, but you get over it and score the one after that.”
Marriott is spearheading a Posh side who travel to Doncaster today and have laid down a marker with their 100 per cent start after four games, scoring 12 and conceding just four.
He added: “I have got some individual targets – goals and assists by different stages of the season is how I am planning and so far it is working well – and we have targets as a team.
“We want to get promoted, we want to do well in the cup, we want to succeed this year.
“This is the best I have felt in a long time and I’m loving my football again.
“If I’m given a chance I back myself to score so I trust that if I score every game I will reach my targets and get to where I want to be and we will as a club as well.
“I feel that confident in the team and myself.”