Adelaide United striker Bruce Djite says he never lost confidence during long goal drought

ADELAIDE United striker Bruce Djite says he never lost his nerve during his long goal drought after scoring two goals against Brisbane last weekend.

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 22: Bruce Djite of Adelaide celebrates scoring a goal during the round 16 A-League match between the Brisbane Roar and Adelaide United at Suncorp Stadium on January 22, 2016 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

ADELAIDE United striker Bruce Djite has cooly affirmed he never lost his nerve during his long goal drought after scoring two goals against Brisbane last weekend.

He had heard people make comment of his long wait for another goal, but said both he and his coach had remained confident in his talent and ability to contribute in other areas as he waited for his 23-game drought.

He hadn’t scored since February last year when he did it twice against Brisbane, but had remained unflustered and confident that hard work would eventually bring him rewards.

“After the game, a few commentators were asking if my confidence had been down and stuff like that,” Djite said. “But to be honest, my confidence never dropped.

“The coach kept picking me in the team and I felt that my general play was pretty good.

“Obviously it was fantastic to get the end result, but at the end of the day, all the people’s job at the club is to help the club win, and we’ve been doing that fairly consistently over the past couple of months.

“If we keep doing that, keep doing our jobs, we can do something good this season.

“I’ve never taken a penalty in the A-League before but I was very calm, wasn’t nervous at all and confident in my abilities.

“Just happy to put it away.”

Djite’s call comes as he singled out the club’s next assignment against Newcastle as the Reds’ most dangerous match-up of the season as they desperately seek to maintain the momentum that has made them the in-form club of the A-League.

Djite didn’t mince words when he looked ahead to United’s next match. But he said Adelaide was in a good state of mind, and said his own confidence — which could have been rocked after not scoring since February last year — had never wavered.

Djite says he never doubted his ability in front of goal.

“It was a fantastic result (against Brisbane),” Djite said after training on Tuesday. “Good to get a couple of goals as well.

“It’s good to keep that momentum that we’ve built up over the past couple of months as well. The challenge is if we can carry on with that.”

The trouble with Newcastle is not just that United has been unable to find the back of the net against them in two attempts this season.

It is also that Newcastle is likely to have the wounded bear syndrome — desperate to atone for a bad loss last round.

“For me, personally, I’m not too keen on coming up against teams that have been flattened the week before.

“Because it means they’ve had a long week to iron out those issues to come back stronger. “They’re going to try to bounce back this week and it’s going to be a difficult game — probably one of the most difficult games that we’ve had this season.

“We’ve played them twice this season, both have been nil-all draws, so we haven’t even scored against them yet.”

“I think form-wise, if you go back a few months, it’s probably us. We’re undefeated (during that stretch), the goals have started to come more regularly ... the defence is tight as well so that makes us very difficult to beat at the moment.

“But like I said earlier, the challenge is to keep that going.”

Originally published as Adelaide United striker Bruce Djite says he never lost confidence during long goal drought