RUFC – Burchill ‘my season starts now’

Rotherham United striker, Mark Burchill, has told the Yorkshire Post that his season ‘starts here.’

Burchill, who joined in the summer from Dunfermline Athletic, has been plagued with injuries since the start of the season and the goals the fans, and manager, hoped he’d score haven’t materialised. With the many strikers the Millers have at the club, when he was fit, the twenty-eight year old had to wait patiently for some part of the action. He started the game against Accrington in December and scored two goals (one a penalty) but in the game against Port Vale on Boxing Day he limped off the pitch with hamstring problems.

Burchill is remaining positive and said, ‘There’s a lot of games left this season and my season really starts here. I think the gaffer has confidence in my ability and what I need is a run in the team to prove it. I haven’t played many games because of injury, formation and a bit of bad luck, but in the six games I have started I’ve nicked four goals. At the start of the season I had a groin injury then a throat infection and then I got injured again over Christmas. I want to play a lot more between now and the end of the season and hopefully that’s the way the gaffer is looking at it.’

There was a rumour or two going around about Burchill at the start of the new transfer window, one being that Kilmarnock were going to make an offer for the man known as Scotland’s answer to Michael Owen when he first played with Celtic ten years ago and Burchill says he has heard the rumours but has unfinished business with the Millers. ‘It’s a tough league,’ Burchill carried on, ‘and we have tried to play some good football where we can but teams make it difficult for you. But, I am confident we can rise above it because we’ve not got a bad squad here. Without the points deficit at the start of the season, I think we’d have been a bit more attacking and thrown caution to the wind more often. The points deduction can change your tactics but overall we’ve coped pretty well.’