Forward Ronan Coughlan sat down with the local media on Thursday afternoon and looked at his time so far at Fleetwood Town since signing at the start of the January transfer window.
The 27-year-old striker has been steadily building up his playing time over the last few weeks, coming off the bench to make his debut against Derby County, and then starting in a friendly against his former side – and our sister-club over in Ireland – Waterford FC on Tuesday evening, playing two-thirds of the game on the night.
Here’s what Ronan had to say in his interview:
On the Irish connections and settling in…
“There were a few of us in the boat, obviously I know Junior [Quitirna] and Phoenix [Patterson] from Waterford and played against the likes of Promise [Omochere] and Dave Harrington in the league, as well as Ryan Graydon who’s come over, so there are quite a few that I could have talked to when I first came over if I needed anything.
“They aren’t just teammates, they’re friends as well and they helped make the transition easy for me. I’d like to say that I’ve hit the ground running as I looked after myself as I knew I was going to be heading into a full season from January and I’d like to thank Fleetwood as they looked after me in terms of my fitness as well.
“They haven’t just thrown me in, they’ve let me settle in, build myself up, and get myself ready for when they need me. I’m up to speed now after getting a few minutes the other night, and the same again the other night, so I’m just hoping to build on that starting on Saturday against Portsmouth.”
On his scoring patterns in Ireland…
“Putting the ball in the back of the net is the most important thing for strikers, that’s why you are there at the top end of the pitch, so it did give me huge confidence which was built on week by week. I’ve got a team that I work with quite closely, with my own analysts, so it’s just step-on-step building that back up now.
“Looking at the numbers I put up last season over in Ireland, if I can replicate those again this season, it would be fantastic, but my main focus is getting my first league goal now and kicking on from there because the confidence will start to build from that point onwards.”
On building his game time throughout the month…
“I couldn’t have imagined it going the way it went at Waterford; it went in a blink of an eye as I signed in February at the end of pre-season and before I knew it, I’d scored a lot of goals, was successful in winning promotion, and then it was over just like that. You just have to be ready to go again which I am.
“Now I’m over here in Fleetwood; it was a bit weird to play against them at the start, with it being so soon since I left, but you have to be professional, and I was just happy to get some more minutes in the tank.
I got around 65-70 on the night which helped as I felt fit and sharp, and it was nice to score a couple of goals as well – I’m happy. It’s always sweet whenever you score, I suppose, but the main thing on the night was to get a good run-out and it was just a bonus that I was able to put the ball into the back of the net.”
You can watch Ronan's full interview on iFollow HERE.