Harry Cornick says he’s stopped overthinking goalscoring chances and is being more selfish this season as he’s hit a sharpshooting purple patch.
The forward only managed one goal all last term, but he’s been resurgent this term, bagging braces twice in his last three games, including a match-winning double against Millwall on Saturday to take him to six for the campaign and top of Town’s goalscoring table.
Both were unerringly confident finishes from a player that manager Nathan Jones admitted probably wouldn’t have hit the net last season, but is now in fine form.
Cornick said: “I’ve always had the ability to finish. I used to think I was a good finisher but then it’s just confidence, really. Once you miss a few chances, you start thinking about it too much and you let other people say too many things and you start overthinking every chance you get.
“You’ve just got to go back to basics and do what you feel is natural. When I go through on goal now I’m just thinking, ‘do your natural thing, rather than overthinking it’.
“Going through one-on-one and knowing it’s just me versus the keeper, I used to just overthink them and think where should I put it, what should I do?
“I’ve working with Chis Cohen (first team coach) a lot in the international break on my finishing and one-v-ones and it’s come out and I’ve shown what I can do.”
There were 1,631 Hatters inside The Den to witness Cornick’s rediscovered abilities, which earned Town their first win there since 1999.
“I think the fans help massively, as well,” said the hotshot, adding: “When it was a quiet stadium and you couldn’t hear a thing except the gaffer screaming at me, and everyone shouting ‘go near post,’ ‘go across goal,’ or ‘take it around him’, I was thinking, I didn’t know what to do.
“But now the fans are here, there’s nothing. I just focus on what I need to do and put it in the back of the net.”
Though he struggled on that front last term, Cornick did weigh in with the assists, for now departed top scorer James Collins and his current strike partner Elijah Adebayo.
The former Bournemouth ace, said: “Collo was brilliant for me. I always liked playing with him. I used to like getting assists for him and trying to score more goals myself last year.
“I was getting assists and that was my main focus, trying to set up Collo and Eli, but this year I’m being a bit more selfish, a bit more greedy and trying to stay more central.
“Last year, I was drifting out wide too much and trying to help the team, but if I stay central, that’s where the goals are.”
Cornick is now just three off his previous best Championship haul, which he got in Town’s first season back in the second tier in 2019/20.
He said: “I’ve got a target I want to hit and hopefully I can go way past that this season. My target last year was 10 and I got one, so I didn’t really do too well last year. This year’s been a bit better, but I’ve just got to keep it up, keep the confidence going and anything to help the team, because we’re on fire at the moment.
“We go to Derby on Tuesday with great confidence and we know what we’re about know. We know we’re a great team, so who knows?”
