McGeehan thrilled to repay Hatters boss Jones' faith in him

The 21-year-old midfielder hit his eighth of the campaign in the 1-1 draw with Mansfield on Saturday, drilling into the bottom corner from 25 yards, before celebrating animatedly with the Town chief.

McGeehan is aware some supporters had questioned his role in the side recently, but wasn’t going to let that affect him, saying: “I’m doing well, personally, scoring goals, so I see myself in the team and when I’m playing I’m a threat.

“The gaffer believes in me and I believe in him. We have a lot of good conversations, I learn a lot from him and, as you could see, I celebrated with him for the goal because of that belief he’s got in me and the help he’s given me since he’s been at the club.

“It was not the best game against Crewe [on October 8], but I think you’re allowed bad games every now and again.

“I’m learning still and I think fans expect more sometimes. That’s fair enough, but I’ve just got to keep believing in myself, as I always do, because sometimes people can be a bit negative towards the way you’re playing.

“You’ve got to keep your head up, keep playing and it has paid dividends because I’ve scored two in the last two; It’s just self belief.”

He added: “I don’t set a marker for where I’m going to be at a certain time in the season but I know how many goals I want to get and it’s more than last year, because I don’t think I scored enough last year.

“I know I can get more, so it’s going well and I’ve just got to keep going. I missed a few chances as well, so I should have had a few more.

“It helps, the way we dominate the ball, so I can break into the box and get those goals.”

Boss Jones admitted recently that McGeehan’s goalscoring threat kept him in the team when he was considering a change against Leyton Orient on October 15, but that was just a one-off.

Jones said: “It took something from our boy Cameron McGeehan again and we’re delighted with that.

“It was only a decision last week, half a decision or not, whether we leave him or not.

“Last week, not this week, or any other week for that matter.

“The thing that swayed it for me is I get goals from him – I keep getting goals from him, keep getting proper performances from him.

“If you buy enough tickets and put them in the right pot, you’re going to get goals and that’s what he does.

“Fair play to him, he has a desire to do that. He kept pulling the trigger late on and he has a real desire to score goals because when he attacks the ball, he really has a desire to do that, so it’s not a coincidence.

McGeehan has began the season in a much deeper role than he has become accustomed to so far this term, as he often picked the ball up off the centre halves and tried to dictate proceedings.

On his different position, the former Norwich player said: “He [Jones] says to me, ‘you can score goals from anywhere, wherever you play, you’ll score goals’.

“It’s always on my mind a little bit to get a goal for the team but I was playing a bit deeper to start with and I don’t mind that because I used to play there at Norwich, in the (FA) Youth Cup,

“I used to play deeper. I can do both, I’m happy to do both.

“So whatever the gaffer wants to do, I trust him with him putting me in the right positions for my ability.”

When asked about his decision to alter McGeehan’s role, Jones added: “I asked him to do something different, he did it, no problem whatsoever.

“He sacrificed himself and his goalscoring prowess for the team. The kid’s superb and I love him.”