Rotherham United appear to be on the rise and the midfielder wants to make the most of two successive League One matches coming up at AESSEAL New York Stadium.
On the touchline at the Valley after last Saturday’s final whistle, he talked about the wonder-strike that had put the Millers in front against high-flying Charlton Athletic and then focused on the impending visits of Burton Albion and Birmingham City to AESSEAL New York Stadium.
“Football moves on quickly,” he said. “We’ve got two home games coming up – take the point from here today and try to pick up three points in each of the next two matches.”
Charlton had managed to equalise, but a win over Huddersfield Town and the 1-1 draw with the Addicks show that Rotherham are gaining momentum.
Less than three weeks ago, a rebuilt squad was in the drop zone after a slow start to the campaign. Now, they’re in the 15th spot.
“If you look at our performances from the first day of the season to now, game on game we’ve got better and better,” Kelly said
“We’ve looked dangerous, we’ve managed to create quite a lot of chances. We felt like we could have won today, we felt like we could have won against Bristol Rovers, (0-0 draw).
“I felt like we should have won at Wycombe Wanderers (2-0 loss)—it just didn’t fall for us in the second half when we were on top. I could be standing here with us on ten points but we’re on five.
“The season’s only just started and there are plenty of games to go. We’ll start moving up that table very quickly.”
Anyway, that strike … a thing of sweet long-range beauty following a run from near the halfway line.
“It just opened up,” Kelly said. “Nobody came out and as I got closer, I just thought I’d get my head and foot behind the ball and hit it as hard as I could. It flew into the corner!
“I’m absolutely delighted to get off the mark for Rotherham. It was a good goal but it would have been nicer if there’d been three points to go with it as well.”
The former Coventry City man is one of 14 signings made by new manager Steve Evans who believes he has assembled a group capable of pushing for promotion.
“There’s been a big turnover of players and the lads are coming together,” Kelly said. “The performances are improving, the results are improving, and we just have to keep building on that.
“Everybody gets on really well, everybody is working hard. We’re still getting to know each other. Obviously, we’ve had pre-season, but sometimes you don’t really get to know people and how they play and how you’re going to work as a team until the season gets going.
“The season is really getting under way now and I think we’re really starting to click. We’re looking forward to the two home games.”
First up are 19th-placed Burton this Saturday and Kelly knows there will be cries of’shoot, shoot’ from the crowd if he gets on the ball in striking range.
“Yeah, yeah,” he grinned. “I need to pull the trigger and try my luck a little bit more.”
