Town's hot-shot says shackles are off

Hunter scored his third goal of the season at Southend last Saturday, so is nearly halfway to achieving last season’s seven-goal haul.

The 20-year-old prodigy is revelling under the tutelage of former Manchester City striker Rosler who took over from Steven Pressley just a week before the season began.

Hunter is Town’s joint-top- scorer David Ball, who needs just two to match the five he scored last term.

Hunter, who penned a new three-year deal last month, has scored all three goals off the bench and started in Tuesday’s Checkatrade Trophy win over a Blackburn XI.

And he credits Rosler with aiding his current scoring streak by removing the defensive shackles from the strikeforce.

Hunter said: “I’m looking forward to the next three years here. Hopefully I can progress really well and kick on with the club.

“I’m really happy here under the new gaffer.

“Since he has come in, he has had a positive impact on the squad and he has really helped me with my confidence.

“With the new formation he has brought in, I don’t have to track back as much as I used to and it gives all three strikers the freedom to concentrate on scoring goals

Rosler is Hunter’s third manager at Town since signing from non-league Ilkeston in January last year.

Asked to describe how Rosler differs to Pressley, he said: “Maybe it is just more of a positive attitude towards the strikers; maybe not asking them to do as much defensive work, so when we get the ball forwards we have got more energy to create and a lot of freedom on the ball.

“He is a really positive manager and I think the lads are happy with the new style of play.

“It is a good start compared to last season, when I wasn’t playing. Towards the end of last season I scored a few goals, so to carry that on is really nice.

“My aim is to score as many goals as I can, start as many games as I can and take it week by week.”

And Hunter hopes that over the next couple of years Fleetwood can put the wheels in motion to continue their spectacular rise from the North West Counties League all the way up to the Premier League.

He said: “Hopefully one day we can reach the Premier League, but season by season we can hopefully get up there slowly.”

And that belief helped to make his decision to sign a three-year deal a straightforward one.

Hunter said: “It is a long commitment, but with the people inside the club we can carry on going forward within the next three years, so it wasn’t really hard to make the decision.

“It is a very ambitious club that is looking to kick on.

“The facilities are Premier League standard here and I can’t thank the chairman (Andy Pilley) enough for bringing them into my life.”