Hinshelwood 'not surprised' by Pearce's rich vein of form for City

ADAM HINSHELWOOD explained why Ollie Pearce has hit a hot streak of form with York City.

Pearce continued his incredible goal scoring run on Saturday by adding another two goals to his tally for the season, making it 11 goals in 19 matches in all competitions.

More impressively for Pearce, Saturday saw the striker make it eight goals from his last six matches, which also includes three assists.

Hinshelwood had Pearce previously at Worthing, where he registered an incredible 67 goals in 92 games for the National League South side – so his recent form for York is no surprise to the manager.

“It was a weird one, even when he was going through what is a bad spell for him, he was working tirelessly and was taking up good positions," Hinshelwood told the Press.

“He’s a good player for the team, I just always knew that for all of the time that he had that, the goals would come.

“I’m not surprised that he’s now getting those kind of numbers, because that’s what he has become accustomed to and used to.

“I’m sure that he will try and stay in that vein of form.”

Despite featuring as a striker primarily for York during his time with the club, Pearce can play in an abundance of forward position, with Hinshelwood praising the intelligence shown by City’s top scorer for the season.

This was on show for the Minstermen’s Emirates FA Cup exit to Wycombe Wanderers at the start of the month, in which York were knocked out of the competition by the League One leaders in a 3-2 defeat.

With Luca Thomas starting as City’s outright striker up front, Pearce played in something of a number ten role, often dropping deep to collect the ball and move it on.

The way in which Pearce performed the role impressed his manager, who has also been happy with the impression the 29-year-old has made on his teammates in training during his first season in full-time football.

Hinshelwood continued: “I just think that Ollie is a real intelligent player, I could ask him to play left wing, right wing, number ten or as an out-and-out number nine and he could do all of those roles.

“That’s just the intelligence that he has got.

“Obviously, a lad that has not been in full-time football before, I think that it’s one of the things that you don’t expect from them.

“All of the lads have been really surprised with someone that hasn’t been a pro before to have the kind of intelligence that he has got, that allows him to play in a variety of positions.

“Obviously he wants to be in and around the box and being a number nine allows him to do that, but I think we finished the game with two out-and-out forwards with Dips [Dipo Akinyemi] and Ollie together, which I thought looked good as well.

“He’s just an intelligent footballer that can play in a variety of positions.”