Tranmere striker Adam McGuirk aims to rekindle last season’s Orient magic

Aug 12 2011 by Nick Hilton, Liverpool Daily Post

ADAM MCGURK’S career with Tranmere may be at the fledgling stage but he already has good reason to regard Brisbane Road as a happy hunting ground.

The 22-year-old striker plundered two goals in Rovers’ 3-0 win over Leyton Orient on the penultimate weekend of last season.

So making a swift return visit on the second weekend of the new League One campaign has McGurk excited – even though he’s expecting the Londoners to make things tougher this time around.

“It was a good day for me down there last year,” McGurk said.

“I remember the second goal just to be on the chest and went in. The result was good, the performance was good and hopefully it will give us a lot of confidence to go down there and do well again.”

Tranmere were pleased when the Metropolitan Police confirmed the fixture would go ahead following rioting in the capital earlier this week. The prospect of making the long journey to London to play the rearranged game on a Tuesday night later in the season was not an attractive one.

McGurk’s Tranmere career belatedly came to life towards the end of last season. The early months, following a move from Aston Villa in the summer, were dogged by injury troubles that frustrated his attempts to establish a regular first-team place.

Scoring a spectacular last-gasp winning goal as a substitute in a crucial victory at Bournemouth at the beginning of April was something of a turning point in McGurk’s fortunes.

By the time Tranmere’s preseason programme of friendly matches was up and running this summer, it became clear McGurk had pushed himself further up the pecking order.

He duly started Tranmere’s first two games of the new season, a 1-0 League One win over Chesterfield at Prenton Park last Saturday and 3-0 Carling Cup defeat at Doncaster in midweek.

McGurk hopes he will reap the benefits of working through a full preseason training programme with Tranmere – an advantage he was unable to enjoy in three injury blighted years with Aston Villa’s youth and reserve teams setups.

McGurk said: “This was my first full preseason training for four years and I think the benefits have started to show already. I feel fitter and sharper. The more games I play the better I should be.”

He’s set himself some targets but won’t say exactly what they are “in case something comes back and bite me on the bum.”

But he added: “I have set some high standards because that is the only way you are going to improve as a player.

“I think mentally I’m more confident in going out and playing now. I think in the past I was a bit uncertain about what I was able to do at this level. The back end of last season helped me realise that I can play at this level. So I want to kick on now, put in some good performances and see where it takes me.”

Tranmere will be looking to put aside a comprehensive defeat at the hands of Championship side Doncaster when they get back into action. McGurk said: “Obviously we were very disappointed after the Doncaster game.

“But we know Doncaster are not the sort of opponents we will be facing in League One every week. I don’t think we will play anyone as good at keeping the ball as they were.

“Over a season there are going to be setbacks, highs and lows. It’s how you respond to them. We have to go into the next game with confidence and remember the way we were playing in the three of four games before Doncaster.”

McGurk added: “We go into every game aiming to win it. We don’t go into games looking for draws because we want to get a winning mentality at this club. We want to go and push for promotion.

“The only way you do that is by winning games and being ruthless.”

Manager Les Parry’s public declaration that promotion is on the agenda for this season has support in the dressing room at Prenton Park. McGurk said: “Getting to the play-offs is my aim and it is the aim of everyone else.

“I think the big thing we need this season is consistency. Last season we were getting some very good results but then the next week we would struggle against teams we are expected to beat.

“So we have got to improve in that area. But I do think the squad is good enough to get us up there -- with a lot of hard work.”

Centre-back Mark McChrystal is Tranmere only injury worry. The Irishman has a pelvic injury that forced him out of the Doncaster game at half time.