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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Mark McCadden

The best is yet to come, says Bohs ace Junior - and he has the stats to back that up

At this stage of the season three years ago, Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe had scored just twice in the league for Derry City.

He went on to win the golden boot, netting 12 times in the 16 games that remained, including a hat-trick on the final day against Finn Harps to Patrick Hoban to the top scorer crown.

So with four goals already at the 20-game juncture this time around, the forward is aiming to kick-start another streak.

READ MORE: Darragh Burns agrees terms with MK Dons while St Pat’s consider former Bolton defender

And first up is his former club Derry City, who visit Junior’s current club Bohemians on Friday night (7.45pm, Dalymount Park).

“During the first-half of the season at Derry I only scored a couple of goals,” recalled the 28-year-old of his spell on-loan at the Brandywell from Colchester United.

“The second-half was when I really picked it up and was scoring goals literally every game.

“I felt like I was just getting a lot of chances. I was confident. When you get one, two or three, they just keep coming.

“It was obviously a massive achievement and a career highlight.

“It was nice, especially getting it on the last day of the season, when probably no one expected it to happen. It was a big achievement.

“Hopefully I can pick that kind of form up this season.”

If Wikipedia is to be believed, Junior is just two goals shy now of a century in senior football.

He’s not quite sure what his tally is to date, but between his spells in non-league football, League Two, Cyprus and his spells at Derry, Dundalk and Sligo Rovers, he was on 94 goals before he joined Bohs last winter.

“I’m not sure how many goals I’ve got, but it’s close to 100 alright,” he said.

“It’s really positive, because for a lot of clubs, I’ve played out wide, not up front, so I feel like it would be a big achievement to get 100 goals.”

34 of those came in just half a season with Maldon and Tiptree in the Isthmian League Division One North - a run that convinced Colchester to bring him to League Two.

“With Malden and Tipton I played directly up front and I enjoyed it. I just picked up form and was scoring in every game,” he said.

“But at Derry I played on the right of left wing. At Derry I felt like I did really well to score that amount of goals from the wide areas.

“We had a good team at Derry as well, so that helped me a lot.”

He feels like things are falling into place at Bohs, so that he can embark on a goalscoring run.

“We have quality players here,” he said. “I feel like we are still getting used to each other and each other’s movements, and getting on the same wavelength.

“As the season goes on, we will get better and better. Hopefully we can get more goals and assists, and more wins for the team as well.”

As for a potential partnership with Promise Omochere, he added: “Prom is a very good player.

“He is young as well, it’s frightening how young he is and how he has grown physically.

“He is a good player and when he is playing you feel like he can make something happen.

“He’s got pace, power and he’s good at dribbling with the ball. I feel like we just need to play with each other a bit more, link up with each other a bit more.

“When we do, we can be a handful for defenders.”

Bohs are missing James Talbot and Grant Horton through injury, but welcome Ciarán Kelly back from suspension and Tyreke Wilson from illness.

Eoin Toal, Ronan Boyce, Cameron Dummigan, Michael Duffuy and Ciaron Harkin are all unavailable for Derry City.

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