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McGoldrick on QPR

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David McGoldrick is relishing the prospect of facing a former teammate on Saturday, as the Saints look to extend their three match unbeaten run at St Mary’s.

Dexter Blackstock rose through the Academy ranks together with McGoldrick where they got to know each other well and the Saints striker reveals that he will be giving the chap stick for his use of lip balm.

Speaking to saintsfc.co.uk ahead of the game, Saints’ top scorer said, “I speak to ‘dry-lips’ all the time. He’s still a good friend of mine and we speak to each other quite a bit. From what I remember of his time here he was scoring goals in the Reserves and the first team even when we were in the Premiership.

“He’s a goal scorer so he will be a threat,” McGoldrick added. “You’ve got to be wary of him because if the ball lands in the box then he can be dangerous because he’s very good at putting the ball in the back of the net.

“This season at Loftus Road he did manage to score but he didn’t celebrate, which shows that he’s still got a lot of respect for the club. He’s doing well there and I hope he continues to do so but just not on Saturday.”

Paulo Sousa’s side are currently without a win in eight games, but McGoldrick is wary of being complacent against a side that hasn’t scored in their last three matches.

“Their form is not the best at the moment and they haven’t found the back of the net for a little while but they’ve got some good players there. Wayne Routledge has recently gone there and he is generally a good threat whilst they have further Premiership experience in the team with Fitz Hall in there.

“At the end of the day it’s eleven versus eleven and we have got to take our form and keep it going. We have five points from a possible ten at the moment, which is decent and we need to maintain that.”

Saints were held to a 1-1 draw by Nigel Clough’s Derby County in mid-week, and the Nottingham born forward was disappointed that the visitors got what they came for.

“It was a shame because they came here with a 4-5-1 formation and sat back a bit hoping to get something from the game,” he explained. “They seemed to be happy with a draw to be honest. We have to deal with that but that point could go a long way when we look back at the end of the season, at this stage every point is a positive one.

“We’ve got to stay upbeat and pick up as many points as we can because each time we won so have the teams around us and it’s the same when we dropped points. There’s till three or four teams above us who can be caught so we remain positive.”

The 21-year-old also revealed that he is enjoying his slightly deeper role in the side of late which allows him to work around the front pairing of Jason Euell and Marek Saganowski.

“With Euelly and Saga up there the pressure is not on me as much to score goals and it means that when I go forward one of them can fill in where I’m playing.

“I can express myself a bit more and run around which allows me to get on the ball more when I’m facing goal which I tend to be better at then when I’ve got my back to goal,” he added.

“I’ve played there a lot for the youth teams and the reserves and it is a position that suits me, just in behind the strikers. It allows me to push on and I like it there.

“It’s still a learning curve for myself though and I’ve got to keep pushing on but at the moment I think I’m doing alright in the team.”

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