Pep talk from Monk gave Adams his spark back and got the goals flowing again

CHE ADAMS is the talk of the town again – after a heart-toheart with Birmingham boss Garry Monk.

The striker goes into tomorrow’s Second City derby on a red-hot streak of seven goals in his last nine games, having scored just once in his first nine.

He is reproducing the sort of exciting displays that once drew 45 scouts to watch him when he was a teenage hotshot at non-league Ilkeston.

His name was then on everyone’s lips again when he announced himself at Sheffield United by opening his account with two goals in a League Cup semi-final against Tottenham in 2015.

And Adams, 22, reckons a September pep talk with Monk (right) before his goal spree began with a matchwinning brace at Leeds was a pivotal moment in him recapturing that thrilling form.

He said: “I feel the best I’ve ever been. A couple of months ago me and the gaffer spoke and he said, ‘Remember what you were doing back then, we feel like you went off it a bit but we want your name back out there and you doing well’.

“He [Monk] has helped me grow into the player I have been this year and put the confidence in me.

“When I’ve not played that well he’s kept playing me. That’s important for a striker. The last couple of seasons it’s been stop start. “This year I’ve found my feet, I’m loving it and growing in confidence. “I’m on the path to getting my name back out there again and hopefully I can do that.” Adams, a hat-trick hero against Hull last time out, will be one of Birmingham’s big hopes of ending their five-game goal drought at Villa Park where they also have not won since 2004. He said: “All week you get it from fans whether you’re in Tesco’s or just out on the streets. Stuff like, ‘You better beat the Villa’. You can see how much it means to the fans.

“A couple came up to me the other day saying, ‘If you score you won’t ever have to buy a drink in Birmingham again’.

“I keep thinking about that [the goal drought] because that is the position I play in. I want to score down there.

“People are coming up to me in the week saying, ‘I feel like you’re gonna score’, they are putting pressure on me. Buthopefully, with the season I’m having, I can get one down there.”