Post by grayraydon on Jan 10, 2017 6:36:57 GMT
www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/four-goals-weekend-who-bristol-12427149
A weekly glance at the Bristol Rovers scoresheet often shows prolific Matty Taylor as the goalscoring star, with 18 strikes in all competitions this season, 15 in the league.
But at the Memorial Stadium on Saturday, there was a different in-form striker stepping up to help Rovers bag three points by the name of Ellis Harrison.
The young Welsh striker scored four of Rovers' five goals as they romped to a 5-0 home win against beleaguered Northampton Town .
The 22-year old stunned the Cobblers bagging a seven minute hat-trick before netting his fourth in the second half, and described his performance as the 'best of his career.'
But who is the young Welsh striker?
Born in Newport, Harrison has spent his entire career at Bristol Rovers — barring a brief two-game loan spell at Hartlepool United — having come through the youth team, and made his debut for The Gas in 2011 coming off the bench in a 1-0 home defeat against Southampton.
But the young striker was made to wait for his first league start.
Ellis' first appearance in the starting line up came in January 2013, where he made an instant impact in 3-0 victory over Fleetwood Town, setting up Danny Woodwards for the Pirates first goal just five minutes into the game.
Harrison in pre-season action for Bristol Rovers against Swansea
His first goal came two weeks later in a 3-1 away win against Rotherham United at the New York Stadium.
He quickly followed that up scoring both the goals in a 2-1 victory over Rochdale and Harrison immediately looked set to have a bright future ahead of him.
A poor season 2013/14 would follow in which Harrison struggled in front of goal, scoring just once in 25 league appearances and Rovers' relegation to the Conference Premier ended their 94-year stay in the football league.
Consequently Harrison was dismissed from the squad and told by manager Darrell Clarke get his act together.
Despite finding himself on the transfer list when the 2014/15 season begun, that campaign sparked a return to form and Harrison ended it as a hero. He scored an outstanding— and vital — goal in the Conference play-off final to secure Rovers' return to the Premier League, cancelling out Grimsby's early goal as the Gas won on penalties.
The goals then began to flow for Harrison: he scored 14 in that season and eight last season.
How has his done this term?
So far Ellis has made 29 appearances for Rover' scoring eight goals including the four he bagged against Northampton, already matching last year's tally.
Pirates' boss Clarke has lauded the striker for becoming a more mature player since dropping him from the squad in 2014. His partnership with frontman Taylor is becoming prolific, the pair responsible for 23 of Rovers' 45 league goals this season. Only the top two, Sheffield United and Scunthorpe United, have scored more.
Harrison has 31 goals in 49 league starts for Rovers.
Harrison has not featured for Chris Coleman's Wales side but has featured in the Under-21 set up.
The 22-year-old's first call up came in March 2013 versus Moldova, and he was called up again in August for a UEFA Championship qualifier against Finland but didn't feature in either game.
His debut came for the U21s came in a 2-0 home win against Lithuania in October 2013. Harrison scored his first international goal while gaining his second cap in a 4-0 win over San Marino.
He has since gone on to earn 12 more caps at Under-21 level, but now looks set to challenge the likes of David Cotterill and Simon Church for a place in Chris Coleman's senior squad, with attacking options likely to be limited, despite the news that Gareth Bale was making a speedy return from ankle surgery.
Just read this article and was wondering do we forget that Ellis is still only 22 and has still got a lot of improving to do just because he's been in and around our first team for what seems like such a long time (6 years!) and through everything that we've been through over the last few years?
How much improving do we think he can still do? Has he got a realistic chance of getting a call up to the senior squad any time in the near future if he can hit a decent run and score a few more goals or is that out of his reach?
Please can we have a serious discussion and no more petty arguing like children, (I know that's a hard thing to achieve on here sometimes)
A weekly glance at the Bristol Rovers scoresheet often shows prolific Matty Taylor as the goalscoring star, with 18 strikes in all competitions this season, 15 in the league.
But at the Memorial Stadium on Saturday, there was a different in-form striker stepping up to help Rovers bag three points by the name of Ellis Harrison.
The young Welsh striker scored four of Rovers' five goals as they romped to a 5-0 home win against beleaguered Northampton Town .
The 22-year old stunned the Cobblers bagging a seven minute hat-trick before netting his fourth in the second half, and described his performance as the 'best of his career.'
But who is the young Welsh striker?
Born in Newport, Harrison has spent his entire career at Bristol Rovers — barring a brief two-game loan spell at Hartlepool United — having come through the youth team, and made his debut for The Gas in 2011 coming off the bench in a 1-0 home defeat against Southampton.
But the young striker was made to wait for his first league start.
Ellis' first appearance in the starting line up came in January 2013, where he made an instant impact in 3-0 victory over Fleetwood Town, setting up Danny Woodwards for the Pirates first goal just five minutes into the game.
Harrison in pre-season action for Bristol Rovers against Swansea
His first goal came two weeks later in a 3-1 away win against Rotherham United at the New York Stadium.
He quickly followed that up scoring both the goals in a 2-1 victory over Rochdale and Harrison immediately looked set to have a bright future ahead of him.
A poor season 2013/14 would follow in which Harrison struggled in front of goal, scoring just once in 25 league appearances and Rovers' relegation to the Conference Premier ended their 94-year stay in the football league.
Consequently Harrison was dismissed from the squad and told by manager Darrell Clarke get his act together.
Despite finding himself on the transfer list when the 2014/15 season begun, that campaign sparked a return to form and Harrison ended it as a hero. He scored an outstanding— and vital — goal in the Conference play-off final to secure Rovers' return to the Premier League, cancelling out Grimsby's early goal as the Gas won on penalties.
The goals then began to flow for Harrison: he scored 14 in that season and eight last season.
How has his done this term?
So far Ellis has made 29 appearances for Rover' scoring eight goals including the four he bagged against Northampton, already matching last year's tally.
Pirates' boss Clarke has lauded the striker for becoming a more mature player since dropping him from the squad in 2014. His partnership with frontman Taylor is becoming prolific, the pair responsible for 23 of Rovers' 45 league goals this season. Only the top two, Sheffield United and Scunthorpe United, have scored more.
Harrison has 31 goals in 49 league starts for Rovers.
Harrison has not featured for Chris Coleman's Wales side but has featured in the Under-21 set up.
The 22-year-old's first call up came in March 2013 versus Moldova, and he was called up again in August for a UEFA Championship qualifier against Finland but didn't feature in either game.
His debut came for the U21s came in a 2-0 home win against Lithuania in October 2013. Harrison scored his first international goal while gaining his second cap in a 4-0 win over San Marino.
He has since gone on to earn 12 more caps at Under-21 level, but now looks set to challenge the likes of David Cotterill and Simon Church for a place in Chris Coleman's senior squad, with attacking options likely to be limited, despite the news that Gareth Bale was making a speedy return from ankle surgery.
Just read this article and was wondering do we forget that Ellis is still only 22 and has still got a lot of improving to do just because he's been in and around our first team for what seems like such a long time (6 years!) and through everything that we've been through over the last few years?
How much improving do we think he can still do? Has he got a realistic chance of getting a call up to the senior squad any time in the near future if he can hit a decent run and score a few more goals or is that out of his reach?
Please can we have a serious discussion and no more petty arguing like children, (I know that's a hard thing to achieve on here sometimes)