Jon Taylor relishing busy festive period for Shrewsbury Town
Shrewsbury Town midfielder Jon Taylor is relishing the busy Christmas and New Year run of fixtures.
The 21-year-old wideman, who returned to action after a month out with a knee injury in Town's 1-0 home defeat to Walsall on Saturday, enjoyed his most prolific spell of last season during December.
Taylor netted three of his six goals for the last campaign in consecutive games against Crawley, Carlisle and Bury on December, 8, 15 and 21st – with a further goal coming against Hartlepool in early January.
And he is hoping to make a similar impact this time around having recovered from his recent knock.
He said: "I am glad to be back. I have just got to keep working hard and get myself back into the team (regularly) because we need to be winning games and I want to help the lads do that.
"I want our next game against Crewe on Saturday to come as quick as possible. I like this time of year and I scored a lot of goals last year around this time.
"And it's a great chance to get three points against Crewe this weekend. We'll go into it with confidence.
"Obviously we got beat on Saturday but we'll still be confident."
Taylor started on the bench against the saddlers but played the last 30 minutes of the game after replacing Paul Parry.
And he admitted he was relieved to be back in contention after a frustrating time on the sidelines.
But a second defeat to Dean?Smith's side in five weeks, following Town's 3-0 loss at Walsall in the FA Cup first round, took the shine of his return to action.
"It is not about me. It is about the team and I'm obviously devastated because it is another big game that we have lost," he said.
"We owed them as well after playing them away earlier in the season.
"We let ourselves down and the manager as well as the fans, which just makes it worse.
"It was horrible being sat on the sidelines, but it's part of football. That is when you need to be strong mentally and I know I am."
Saturday's run-out against Walsall was Taylor's second game in five days following a 90-minute display for the reserves against Wrexham on Tuesday.
And he said: "My knee is a bit stiff. I have had four weeks out and then played 90 minutes for the reserves on Tuesday and then went straight into the squad on Saturday but it's good for my fitness and the knee feels alright."