Goalscoring at Riverside is proving

ON-LOAN striker Jordan Hugill continues to come in for a little bit of criticism on social media. The Middlesbrough-born forward has not enjoyed the best of fortune in front of goal at the Riverside since scoring his first goal for the club in the cup tie against Rochdale back in August. It’s a fact that joining your hometown club at a later stage in your career can prove to be much more difficult than it would appear.

Suddenly, Hugill is under constant scrutiny from family and friends, in addition to those fans with whom he once stood to cheer on the team.

Hugill lacks nothing in commitment and effort but sometimes players in similar situations can be accused of trying too hard.

Certainly Jordan will have nothing to lose by taking a step back, considering the overall picture and saving a little bit of energy for key situations on the pitch.

There’s nothing wrong with the lad’s career record, so we know he has the qualifications to make a big impact in Championship games.

Of course Hugill will point quite naturally to the fact we will see the best of him if he gets a run in the side.

That’s perfectly true but you have to take the odd half chance and pull something extra out of the bag to spark that run.

Not that Hugill is any different from the rest of the club’s attacking players.

If you take into account the fact Boro’s goal against Derby was an own goal, they haven’t scored one for themselves at the