Partick Thistle striker Kris Doolan can’t wait to break through the 100 goals barrier for the club, and he is targeting a hat-trick against Hearts to really hit the landmark in style.
Doolan hit goals number 96 and 97 at the weekend to give the Jags a crucial victory over Hamilton, and the forward is at pains to point out that the benefit his goals bring to the team is more important to him than personal accolades.
But he admits that the closer he gets to the century, the more excited he is at the prospect of etching his name in the Firhill history books.
And while he knows that a treble against the Jambos might be a tall order, he is just desperate to reach the magic number as soon as possible.
“To hit 100 goals would be massive,” Doolan said. “The closer we get it seems like it’s not just me that’s interested in it, it’s the supporters and the people around the club that are giving it attention and it is pretty exciting.
“When you sign for a club at first things like that seem a long way off. To think that you would score a century of goals is miles away, but if you break it down year-by-year then as long as you’re chipping in with a decent return each season then these things do become possible.
“I’m absolutely delighted that I’m so close, and I hope I can get there as soon as possible.
“For me, the 100 goals will happen whenever and wherever it happens, but the main thing is that if I’m putting the goals away then the club benefits from that, and to me that’s a bigger objective than getting the 100 goals.
“Obviously when it comes though, we’ll all enjoy it. It would be nice to hit a hat-trick on Saturday to get it, I’d definitely take that!”
Doolan revealed that the devastating cameos from both he and Chris Erskine on Saturday from the substitute’s bench owed more to design than chance.
Both players watched a dreadful first-half closely as they warmed up, so that by the time they came on, they knew exactly where and when they could exploit gaps in the Hamilton defence.
“When I’m on the bench, even though I don’t want to be there, I am studying the game and I’m looking for where there might be openings if I’m put on,” he said.
“Myself and Chris Erskine were chatting about it during the first half. It was a terrible first half, but the second half was completely different for us and it was a good time for me and Chris to come on.
“Thankfully we were able to use the space we had noticed to link up for the first goal.
“If you are going to play so close together as a front two or as a striker with someone like Chris in behind you, there has to be a relationship there.
“It can’t be two individuals doing their own thing because it just doesn’t work. I think that’s why me and Squiddy have scored so many goals or created goals between us over the years, although he has obviously created far more for me than I have for him.”
That relationship between Doolan and Erskine goes all the way back to the junior pitches of Ayrshire, with Erskine regaling the press at the weekend with a tale of being nutmegged by Doolan on his way to scoring a goal many years ago.
Much to Doolan’s annoyance though, he can’t actually remember the strike, as much as he would like to cast it up to his pal.
“I remember the time the two teams met, but I can’t actually remember the goal,” he admitted.
“I wish I could remember the specifics of it because it’s something I’d love to bring up! It’s obviously nice though that the two of us came from junior football and now we’re doing the business in the top league.”
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