Le Fondre calls for players to become heroes at Burton

Ahead of this weekend’s important Sky Bet Championship clash against Burton Albion, Wanderers forward Adam Le Fondre has called upon himself and his teammates to step up and become heroes with Phil Parkinson’s men looking to get a win against the Brewers that could secure safety should other results fall favourably.

Last time out, Wanderers were comprehensively beaten by Premier League bound Wolves at Macron Stadium, but 'Alfie' says he has been pretty pleased with the level of performance from the team in the main and is aware that the vast levels of experience in the ranks means that the team are equipped to be successful at the Pirelli Stadium on Saturday.

"The boys have been good. Considering the recent run of results, we know that our performances have not been far away – aside from the second half in the Wolves game. Apart from that, we’ve been quite good, and we’ve revitalised knowing the importance of this game.

"We’ve got a lot of experience in the changing room and we know what’s at stake. We know what’s involved in games like this, and we’ve obviously got to be fully at it to get the result that we want."

Having scored on a number of occasions earlier in his career whilst playing at the Pirelli Stadium, the Wanderers forward, quite admirably, openly admits to wanting to take the headlines in his team’s fight to stay in the Championship, but has stressed that the whole team have to go into the game with the same attitude.

"I’ve been there a couple of times with Rotherham, and scored a couple of times too," he said. "That was many moons ago as they say. Obviously, I’d like to go back there on Saturday and score.

"Make no bones about it, I want to be a hero. I think at most clubs I’ve done that and here I’m on my way to doing that.

"I’d like to be the one that keeps us up, but I don’t care whoever becomes the hero, because as a group we’ve all got to pick up that mantle, take it all on and handle whatever is coming at us and fight back at it."

Along with himself, Jem Karacan and David Wheater played their part in scoring against Peterborough United to get Wanderers over the dotted-line back to the Championship last season.

Fast-forward 12 months meanwhile, and Le Fondre knows that the objective of winning remains exactly the same.

"Wheats (David Wheater) is due a goal to be fair and he's not scored all season, so I’ve been battering him. But, we all want the same thing – we just want anyone to score; the ball can go in off the ref if it wants. We just want to win!"

Over 1,500 Wanderers fans will be making the trip to a tightly-packed Pirelli Stadium this weekend, and the frontman is fully aware as a a figure on the field of play, what a difference the volume and level of support can make to the team when it really matters the most.

"The fans have been magnificent away from home and they turn up in their numbers every game," he admitted.

"They’ve got a great noise and obviously its nice hearing my song sung. We just want them to keep sticking with us, especially away from home, keep the chants nice and loud, and hopefully we’ll give them something to cheer for."

Read Time: 3 mins