Huddersfield Town v Blackpool: Vaughan shares out credit for startling opening

Tonight he will look to become the first player in the Football League to reach double figures this season as Town take on Blackpool in front of the Sky Sports cameras.

Vaughan, who backed up his Championship Player of the Month award in April with another for the opening month of this current campaign, is running hot.

While the level-headed frontman is eager to share the bouquets with his team-mates, his manager should also take a bow after his stunning start to this season.

Town boss Mark Robins’s predatory prowess in his playing days was legion, right from the moment he burst onto the scene at Manchester United at the start of the Nineties.

Similar nous is now being displayed by ex-Everton and Norwich forward Vaughan, who has plundered 18 goals in 24 matches under Robins’s watch, displaying a consistency in front of goal which has, in the past, eluded him.

His haul of 14 goals in 2012-13 – just three shy of his total career haul at his five other clubs – was commendable enough, but after firing nine goals in 10 starts so far this season, eclipsing last season’s tally looks a formality.

For that, the input of Robins, and a bit of TLC from the unheralded backroom boys, has gone a long way.

Vaughan, very much the main man down the middle since Robins’s arrival, said: “The awards are something I am proud of.

“It’s nice to win that award once, but to win it twice is very good.

“But all my goals have come from one-touches, so I can’t take away what the team have done for me.

“They are creating the chances and I have been able to finish.

“Since the manager has come in I’ve really enjoyed the role he has asked me to play in.

“It’s got me a good few goals and I am looking forward to it continuing.

“I am always aware of my tally. Any striker who tells you he is not is lying. We are all judged on goals and, hopefully, I’ll get a few more.

“The tactics the manager has brought in has happened to suit me.

“We do a lot of finishing and he has worked a lot on my movement and he’s obviously got a great deal of experience himself to pass on.

“It’s been good to pick his brains for his knowledge and I am trying to learn from that.

“He tells me where to be (in the box) and tells the wide players and midfielders where he wants them to put it for me. He simplifies it, really.”

As for his increased availability for games, previously a thorny issue where Vaughan was concerned – the charge for a good part of his earlier career was that he was somewhat injury-prone – the Brummie is quick to pay credit where it is due.

Vaughan, who netted last autumn in a televised win against Blackpool at Bloomfield Road, said: “The gaffer has set us up our own pre-hab that we all do before training to get us fit.

“It’s a bit of stretching and strength work to get yourself ready for training. We’ve all seen the benefits of it this season.

“It’s also about managing myself a bit better than I did when I was a kid and looking after my body a bit better. Hopefully, it will stay this way.

“It’s knowing what to do when I am injured and what to do with myself to recover better and if I do feel something, to let the physios know to modify my training.

“James (Haycock), the physio here, has been brilliant and very understanding. He’s helped me massively.

“Especially at Everton, I wasn’t a regular starter and when a chance did come about, if I was feeling something, I didn’t want anyone to know and I would try and play through it.

“I started (playing) when I was at 16. So for a 16-year-old to go and tell David Moyes is not the easiest thing to do. But when you are older, you know what to do.

“When you are young, you are, like, ‘I can still run, so I can play’. Sometimes, it’s not sensible to do that.”

While Town have the incentive of moving into the play-off pack if they win tonight, the Seasiders – managed by Robins’s ex-Old Trafford team-mate Paul Ince – are not without motivation, mindful that a victory would be enough to move them joint-top.

Vaughan added: “Everyone looks forward to games on TV to show everyone what they can do.

“Blackpool have a good team and they will be up there at the end of the season, I’m sure.

“They have some good players such as Tom Ince, who has shown regularly why he is chased by a lot of good Premier League teams. It will be a good test.”