Shrewsbury Town top marksman Fejiri Okenabirhie is adjusting his sights
Top scorer Fejiri Okenabirhie has already smashed through his initial goal target this season – and has his sights set on hitting another revised landmark.
Last summer’s signing from Dagenham notched his 15th goal of a fine debut season for Shrewsbury but is already focused on bumping up his tally.
The talented 23-year-old admitted ahead of Sam Ricketts’ side’s crunch relegation six-pointer against Scunthorpe tomorrow that he has already pushed beyond his own initial expectations. Okenabirhie refused to detail his exact target but – with six games left this season – is not done at 15.
He is some way from Grant Holt’s 28-goal haul a decade ago but has a shot at eclipsing James Collins’ 16 and 17-goal seasons in 2011/12 and 2014/15.
“I’ve had to push it (my target) up but that’s not a bad thing – if I have to do it again then I will!” Okenabirhie said.
“It’s definitely good. I’m pleased with 15, it’s a great achievement, especially having not played the full season. I’m happy for sure.
“I only started games around November. Since then I’ve contributed as much as I can.”
Okenabirhie’s precise finish at Roots Hall owed to tireless work in training with first-team coach Danny Coyne. The frontman is desperate to stay on the scoring path and lift Town from League One danger, beginning against the Iron.
“I was pleased with it,” he added. “The things that I work on with Coyney and they’ve come off.
“It was probably my only chance in the game, it’s good to be clinical and it was an important goal.
“I do as much as I can in training and I’ve done that all season. When things come off in the game that you’ve practised it’s always nice, you want to replicate them going forward.”
The strike did end a run of 11 outings without goal. “At the end of the day it’s about the team, 100 per cent. You don’t want to be scoring and the team is losing,” said the striker.
“You want to contribute to a winning team. I want to continue to play the best I can on the pitch and goals are a bonus.”
Ricketts is likely to be without injured stand-in skipper Ollie Norburn (Achilles) tomorrow.
But the Town chief has backed Josh Laurent to fill in.
He said: “We’re hugely fortunate to bring Josh Laurent in. He’s a player I really like”
