Striker Oli McBurnie admits it was a special feeling to finally open his Premier League account for the season when he netted a first-half penalty against Brentford last weekend, and wants to experience that more as the weeks go on.
Number nine McBurnie slotted in to give Hull City the lead before they were pegged back in the second half and were forced to settle for a point in a 1-1 draw.
That was his first goal in England’s top-flight since netting in a 2-2 draw for Sheffield United at home to Chelsea back in April 2024, and he now hopes that strike will light the blue touch paper.
City host Ipswich Town in a huge Premier League outing this weekend, and McBurnie will likely lead the line as the Tigers go in search of a first win since the back end of August, against a team that came up with them from the Championship.
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“That makes it sound like I’ve been playing for 931 days without a goal,” McBurnie chuckled. “I was in a different country for a little bit.” It was a nice feeling. To be fair, the season that I had in that last year at Sheff (United) was really stop-start. I think I only started, however many, 14 games or something that season due to injuries and stuff.
“That feeling never gets tiresome; it never gets old. It’s the best feeling in the world, whether it’s a one-yard tap-in or a 30-yard screamer, whatever situation you’re in.
“Whether it’s at Wembley or anywhere, scoring a goal is something that you’ll never get bored with, particularly as a striker. It was a really nice feeling.
“I should have had a couple this season so far, but it’s the Premier League, you’re not going to be getting 10 chances a game, so you need to make the most of your chances, and hopefully now I can get a few more.”
At times this season so far, McBurnie has been starved of chances. The forward has only had 11 chances in the opening eight games, and boss Jakirovic has admitted his side needs to give him more opportunities in between the posts. McBurnie accepts that chances have been at a premium, but says it’s not quite as black and white as not being given the ball on a plate in front of goal.
“I think there’s an element of that, but also you’re in the Premier League again now, so maybe things that were happening last year, and why we were so successful, so teams are wise to that,” he continued.
“You look at last year how successful me and Gilo (Ryan Giles) were, teams are going to go into games seeing that Gilo’s got an unbelievable delivery, when it goes out to Gilo, probably a good idea is to mark me because that’s where it’s gonna go.
“There’s an element of there’s a different formation we’re playing this year, there’s the element of me playing a little bit deeper, getting involved a little bit deeper, which gives more space for the boys in behind. There’s all sorts of elements, but again, you look at last year, we weren’t a team that created 10 chances a game.
“One of the reasons we were so successful last year was how clinical we were on the counter, similar to this year as well. If we’re scoring goals as a team, then that’s all that matters.
“I think there’s only one or two games this season where we haven’t scored a goal. As long as we’re getting results and doing things, I’m more than happy to do my job in the team, whether it be scoring goals or helping the boys get goals or dragging players out or whatever it is.”
McBurnie, like his manager, says there’s no extra pressure on this game, given it comes against another newly-promoted team, though he acknowledges the importance of games at home.
“Every game in this division is kind of the same,” the Scotland international continued. “You look at it at the start of the season, because they’ve come up with us, it’s a game that you need to be winning and stuff like that, but if you look where both teams are in the division, it’s not really worked out like that.
“I just feel like we’re going into every game. It’s more so for us, the home games. We wanna be performing well, less so the opposition, we wanna just be picking up as many points as we can at home and making it a real tough place for teams to come, and that’s what we’ve done so far, and hopefully we can do it again this weekend.
“I don’t think there’s any pressure on any of us. Everyone had already written us off, so we’re kind of here and just here to enjoy it. We’re professionals, and we’re winners, so the only way for us to enjoy being here and enjoy this division is by winning games and giving a real good go of it.
“A home game, in front of our crowd, is something that we look forward to going into. I wouldn’t say that there’s any pressure at all, no.”
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