Johnson wants Rooney to be more selfish

Photo: PICTURE by VINCENT BROWN

TREBLE TOP . . . Danny Philliskirk celebrates the first of his three goals for the reserves with Glenn Belezika.

ADAM Rooney needs to take a leaf out of Lee Hughes’ book to get up and running for Athletic.

The striker, signed on a free transfer from Birmingham City before the start of the season, has yet to score for his new club.

Rooney (25) came close at Peterborough, where his header from a Jose Baxter free-kick would have opened the scoring but for an excellent flying save from Bobby Olejnik.

Manager Lee Johnson was fulsome in his praise for ex-Inverness striker Rooney’s overall work in 2013-14.

But he wants his main striker to be more selfish — and get into the sorts of prime scoring positions Port Vale’s front man Hughes loves.

“He is working so hard for the team, but sometimes he has to think: ‘right, I am going to be selfish for five minutes’, and go and be an old-fashioned goal-hanger,” said Johnson.

“Take Lee Hughes, for example; you might not see him at all for the whole game and then he will suddenly score two.

“Roons is working so hard and I hope he gets his goal soon. We have worked on it in training.”

As Athletic bid to get their first home points of the League One season against Vale, another forward stated his case for a place in the squad yesterday.

Danny Philliskirk netted a hat-trick for the reserves in a 3-1 win over Tranmere in the Central League, West Division clash at Chapel Road.

All three of Philliskirk’s strikes were smart finishes, answered by a Danny Holmes header from a corner midway through the first half.