Asian Cup: Socceroos striker Jamie Maclaren on breaking his goalscoring duck

For Jamie Maclaren, a diminutive marksman used to scoring regularly for his clubs, the burden of having not done so at international level was starting to play on his mind. Now the proverbial monkey is off his back.

Socceroos players Aziz Behich (left) and Jackson Irvine congratulate Jamie Maclaren after he opened his scoring account for the national team against Palestine on Friday night. Picture: Getty Images

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Confidence is one of those great football enigmas.

There’s no coaching manual on how to get it, or regain it when it wanes.

In a striker, its presence – or lack thereof – can be magnified.

For Jamie Maclaren, a diminutive marksman used to scoring regularly for his clubs, the burden of having not done so at international level was starting to play on his mind.

“As a striker I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t,” Maclaren said after finally opening his account in the Socceroos’ 3-0 Asian Cup win over Palestine.

“At club level I’m really content with my goals-to-game ratio, but at national-team level it starts to get to you.

“I just have to stay on my path. I’m lucky to have good coaches like Rene and Graham who keep saying to me ‘it’s going to come, with the goals you’re scoring in training it will come’.

“And when you’ve got a great bunch of boys around you I knew it was going to come.”

Sometimes it takes just one goal to shift the proverbial monkey.

And Maclaren’s was worth the wait.

Jamie Maclaren’s first international goal was well received by his teammates.

In his 10th cap, some two and a half years after his international debut, the 25-year-old flicked in a peach of a header off a terrific Tom Rogic cross.

In that moment, comparisons between the on-loan Hibernian man and Scott McDonald, who made 26 Socceroos appearance but never scored, dissipated.

As soon as the net shook his teammates were racing down the field to celebrate – goalkeeper Mat Ryan sprinted its entire length.

“The boys see me day in, day out scoring goals in training, when you get your first one for the national team it stretches throughout the whole squad,” he said.

“I’m so proud and I’m sure my family are proud of me. It’s just a great moment I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.

“Today was my moment to step up and I did.”

Jamie Maclaren has a big fan in Graham Arnold.

Another player may not have – one less resilient might have dropped his head after an air swing as emphatic as Maclaren’s in the third minute.

But, as the former Brisbane Roar star reasoned: “The old saying is, ‘get on that bus and just get the next one’.”

The key to that, according to coach Graham Arnold, is his persistence, to keep doing the things that can be coached.

“I love Jamie as a player,” Arnold said.

“His movement in the box is always very, very good. He’s just needed a bit of belief, he’s needed confidence.

“We, the coaching staff, give him that because he does a great job for the team defensively up front with the press, working hard for the team first and foremost.

“So for Jamie and also for Apo (Giannou) to come on and score the way he did, it’s very promising.”

Maclaren has started both group games but will face stiff competition ahead of the third, with Arnold confirming Andrew Nabbout would be ready to return from a groin injury against Syria on Wednesday, while Giannou proved his worth off the bench.

“When you have competition for places it creates a very competitive environment and one that pushes players to another level,” Arnold said.

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