Hume is aiming to celebrate double promotion

The Canadian international striker, on loan at Doncaster Rovers, did the business against the club who gave him his big break in English football, Tranmere Rovers, in last-gasp fashion on the Wirral in October and he readily admits that not celebrating was the hardest thing he has done in his professional career.

Given the nature of Hume’s pivotal stoppage-time strike in the 2-1 success at Prenton Park – which arrived just three minutes after Jake Cassidy had restored parity for Tranmere – most would have indulged in manic celebrations and it must have been doubly-difficult to resist.

But out of respect for Tranmere, the club he holds dear to his heart, he kept his emotions in check.

As he will if he finds the net against Ronnie Moore’s outfit tomorrow afternoon at the Keepmoat Stadium – and potentially further upset his neighbours.

The need of both sides for three points is evident. Brian Flynn’s front-runners are desperate to keep the likes of Brentford and Sheffield United at bay in the quest to consolidate their top-two hopes and take another step towards lifting the League One title.

For seventh-placed Tranmere, the stakes are just as high as they seek three points needed to reignite their play-off quest after having faded following a fine opening half of the campaign.

On the game with Tranmere, who are two points behind sixth-placed Yeovil with four matches to go, having played a game more, Hume said: “In the game there, I did absolutely nothing for 93 minutes and then scored the winner. Not celebrating when I scored was the hardest thing I have ever done.

“It was heart-breaking for them, but that’s football. It is my livelihood.

“After the final whistle, I am a local lad and they are the club I follow. It will be the exact same thing on Saturday and if we are to go up we are going to have to beat the best teams at the top.”

Hume may be eyeing the first championship medal of his career with Doncaster, but he admits he would love his current side and his former one celebrating come the season’s end and would like nothing better than the two Rovers to be strutting their stuff in the Championship come August.

Hume, who had an enriching six-year association with Tranmere after making his debut as a raw 16-year-old in 1999, said: “Promotion for both of us would be brilliant. I only live a couple hundred yards from the (Tranmere) ground and my ideal situation would be for us to get a double promotion.

“I hold the club in the highest regard. Tranmere’s assistant-manager John McMahon is the guy who actually brought me over (from Canada) and I keep in contact with him, while other people in the backroom were part of making me who I am now.

“Big Ian Goodison is the only player who is left and a couple of lads I know who have broken in through the youth team, such as Danny Holmes, their right-back. Funnily enough, I played with his older brother.

“Unfortunately, they have dropped off a bit this season and it will be a tough one for them (to get promotion). But, hopefully, they will.”

After starting the season at one League One promotion aspirant in Preston, Hume has found himself doing his level best to ensure that achievement transpires at another one in Doncaster, with an initial loan spell extended for the rest of the season in January.

Having fallen out of favour at North End under Graham Westley last summer, the 29-year-old’s future in Lancashire looks uncertain despite the departure of Westley and the instalment of former Leeds United and Huddersfield Town chief Simon Grayson.

But Hume is steadfastly concentrating on the here and now, while acknowledging that a potential full-time move to Doncaster, if they secured promotion back to the second tier, would hold its appeal.

Hume, who has struck seven goals for Doncaster this term, said: “It was one of those things and I did not fit in (at Preston) and Dean (Saunders) decided to take a chance on me. I have said since I joined that it is a club that should be pushing for promotion and where we are at the moment is where we deserve to be.

“Getting back to the Championship is where I want to be. But I still have another year at Preston, so, to be honest, I am not thinking anything past this season and have said that to the chairman.

“If things come up and both parties agree, it might be something that happens. But it is not something I am chasing or thinking about right now.

“We have massive games coming up and if my head is elsewhere, it is not going to do me any good.

“It’s a whole new team and the lads have really gelled together. That was the big thing I noticed when I joined. Even though they had only been together for a couple of months when I joined, it looks like they have been for years. They are so tight-knit.

“I have been in a few squads and this is up there with one of the tightest squads I have seen because everyone is willing to put themselves on the line for each other.”