Safety first for Town loan stars as deadly duo eye another scalp

At the time of year in the footballing calendar where teams’ fates are firmly on the line and anxious supporters are forgiven for grasping any type of psychological ‘edge’ over their rivals at both ends of tables, a bit of solace can go a long way.

The much-vaunted pair provided plenty of that on what promised to be a tense lunch-time seven days ago by way of three sumptuous goals between them in Town’s consummate 3-0 home victory over Millwall, when the hosts made a mockery of their status as Championship relegation candidates.

Given the way they mauled the Lions defence, the Town faithful were entitled to mutter a few ‘if only’s.’ Namely if only Vaughan and Beckford had played together more often – with it likely if that was the scenario that Town would not still be fighting raging fires at the bottom of the table.

In the 11 games the pair have started together in an injury-affected season, Town have lost just three times with a win ratio of about fifty per cent.

So expect the sight of Town’s twin goal spearheads – with two more games to go in their respective loan spells from Norwich City and Leicester City – to be greeted with an extra cheer from the 1,800 blue-and-white away contingent at Ashton Gate this afternoon if they are strutting their stuff from the start in the West Country.

Vaughan, who has again shone in a relegation-threatened side just as he did for Crystal Palace in 2009-10 where he and current Town team-mates Sean Scannell, Alan Lee and Neil Danns were together, said: “No-one wants to be injured, but it happens in football and you have to make the most of it when you are fit.

“Jermaine has been injured a bit, but has been itching to come back and he’s managed to get his goals and hopefully that can continue.

“Everyone saw how clinical Jermaine can be last Saturday. He is a really nice guy who just gets on with his work and tries to help the team out and in the past few weeks, he has got the goals his performances have deserved.”

If Vaughan and Beckford can carry on from where they left off last weekend, the chances of Town recording back-to-back league wins for the first time since October – when they beat Birmingham City and Wolves in the pair’s first two matches in tandem – are certainly a good bet.

But the only statistic Town punters are bothered about come 5pm is three priceless points in their safety quest, which could be achieved if they win and other results go their way.

Not that Vaughan is looking at any permutations, preferring instead to keep things simple.

He said: “We put ourselves in a great position last week with getting a win and we just need to see it through now, hopefully with another win.

“We have shown this season we have those types of performances versus Millwall in us. It’s more a case of consistency – if we go to Bristol and play like we did against Millwall, I think we will be fine. For us, if we go out and win both of our games, we will be safe, simple as that.

“It sounds easy to just say: ‘we’ll go and win our games’. But it is easier than relying on other teams to win or lose their games.”

Fully immersed in helping Town over the line in their survival battle, Vaughan will only seriously turn to thoughts about his future once the last ball has been kicked on May 4 – before looking towards his future, or not, at parent club Norwich.

Vaughan said: “The fans and everyone at the club have been brilliant with me. But we are in a very precarious position at the moment and we need to finish the job before we all get ahead of ourselves.

“It’s about making sure we are safe first. Once that is done, I am sure everyone will sit down together and see what the best way forward is.

“If it comes to it, I will fight for my place (at Norwich) – if not, I will move on.”

While Vaughan and Beckford have largely looked the part on the occasions they have lined up together for Town, they have yet to be offered the chance of playing together in the international fold for Jamaica.

The latter made his debut for the Reggae Boyz in their World Cup qualifier with Panama last month in Kingston, with Vaughan still awaiting his debut after announcing on Twitter last year that he would play for the Caribbean nation.

Vaughan, who qualifies through his grandparents, added: “Jermaine only had good things to say about it when he came back. Maybe in the future, it may be something that happens.

“International football is what everyone wants to play and if that opportunity came, I’d sit down and think about what was best.

“I have been keeping my eye on the qualifiers. Even if they don’t qualify, I will be keeping my eye on Becks and Theo (Robinson). I have a lot of family out there and know what it means for them and it would be a massive thing for everyone in the country to play in the World Cup again.” [email protected]