Bradford City striker James Hanson has 20-20 vision to succeed Windass (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)
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Bradford City striker James Hanson has 20-20 vision to succeed Windass
James Hanson is backing himself to be the 20-goal striker City have lacked since Dean Windass.
Deano bagged 28 in 2005 and shared the League One golden boot. Nobody at Valley Parade has come close to repeating that, with Peter Thorne’s 17 four seasons ago the nearest rival.
Now Hanson has “20-20 vision” from the current campaign – and believes that is a realistic goal with this side.
He has already got two under his belt from the first three games, including the winner against Fleetwood on Tuesday. And Hanson, who top-scored last term with 14, is convinced he can keep racking them up.
Hanson said: “I want to beat last year first but hopefully I can try and get into the 20s.
“If I play as many games then there’s a good chance with the team we’ve got here and the chances they’ll create.
“I was pleased with the cup goal but the main aim is the league for me. To get off the mark so early in the season was good for confidence.
“It takes a lot of pressure off yourself. The longer you go without scoring as a striker, the more it starts to bother you.
“But fortunately I scored at Notts County and kicked on from there to get another one the other night. It would be nice to keep it going tomorrow.
“I’ve never had too long a run without scoring, probably no more than three or four games. My record is probably one in three, which isn’t bad.
“But hopefully I can better that this season and make it to 20 or more.”
Hanson admitted his eyes lit up when Fleetwood defender Youll Mawene, his shadow for most of Tuesday night, failed to pick him up for once – giving him free rein to convert Gary Jones’s corner.
He added: “The defender had been marking me tight at every set-piece but Dava (Andrew Davies) blocked him off which gave me a yard of space.
“As soon as I saw the flight of the ball coming over, I knew it would be a goal. It was a good battle for the strikers but we came out on top and deserved it.”
Hanson played in all three Wimbledon games last season and is still waiting to break his duck against them. City lost two of them – and he anticipates another close encounter despite the visitors going down heavily at Burton in midweek.
“I’m sure their manager will have got into the players after that and they’ll come up here determined not to concede. But if we can score early, then hopefully they might crumble a bit.
“When you looked at the fixtures, six points from the first three games would have been a good return before we go to Rotherham next week. Obviously the cup win has helped us as well.
“With Rotherham coming up, we’ll probably have played three of the promotion candidates already.
“So if we can get a good start after those games, we can really look to kick on.
“The more games we can win, the more fans will come through the gate which will really help us.
“They played a huge part on Tuesday. Just a couple of tackles got them going.”