MATT Ritchie believes that the key to Town’s success this campaign lies in consistently reproducing the calibre of performance that saw them thrash Tranmere Rovers on Friday evening.
The former Portsmouth man told the official website that he wants Town to translate their impressive away form into performances at The County Ground.
“Our away form this season has been brilliant,” he said. “If you look at what we’ve done this season we’ve won a lot away and dropped points at home. So if we can keep going the same way we have been away from home and play like we did against Tranmere and turn draws and 1-0 defeats at home into wins then I’m sure we’ll be right in the mix come the end of the season.
He continued: “The performance against Tranmere had been coming. We’ve been playing some great football and on Friday we put the chances away that we’ve been creating. We scored early doors and that seemed to kick us on and we kept pressing them. I think we’ve played better than that at times this season but just have not put our chances away. We defended in three solid lines, defended from the front and that showed as well.
“The front two made a difference: everything that went up top they flicked on or they held it and brought other players in to play. ‘Willo’ has been working hard and I think that showed. Chrissy (Martin) too; he didn’t score tonight but he was a different class. He ran the channels and did what the gaffer asked him. He wanted the ball and he’s a clever player but you could say everyone in the team was brilliant.”
The winger’s goal against the Merseysiders took his tally to nine goals for the season. However, Ritchie was keen to stress the goal threat that is now present across Town’s midfield and forward line going into a testing run of fixtures.
“Raffa (De Vita) has got six or seven now,” he said. “I’ve scored a couple and so have ‘Collo’ and ‘Willo’. Then if Chrissy Martin starts scoring as well which I’m sure he will. He just needs that goal then I’m sure they will come as a bunch. Danny got one on Friday and we got goals from corners too so hopefully we can score from all over the park. We need to keep doing what we’re doing and working hard because this is a crucial period for us.”
