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A less patient player might have sore knuckles hammering on Coventry City manager Mark Venus’s door if they had Jack McBean’s goal record.

The LA Galaxy loan striker netted his seventh in ten games for Sky Blues Under-23s to top a good week for the 21-year-old who was confirmed as his parent club’s top scorer and named player of the year for the second season running in Monday’s end of term awards.

He has also finished top scorer for Galaxy II – the glamorous MLS side’s second string – with an outstanding 15 goals in just 17 appearances before cutting short his campaign to move across the pond to try out his Predators in England’s League One.

That impressive tally saw him come runner up in the USL Golden Boot race, so it’s fair to say he knows where the goal is.

So why then, despite continuing to consistently bang them in since joining City on loan, has he been overlooked for a first team call?

Well, the last couple of weeks has seen the glut of forwards finally get one the scoresheet themselves which is, perhaps, unfortunate timing for the California kid who had a strong case prior to that when City’s front men couldn’t buy a goal.

But why, after hitting five or six in the development squad at that stage, wasn’t he at least drafted into the matchday squad?

The simple answer is he wasn’t quite fit enough. That’s not a criticism of the player, rather a reflection of the jump in levels required which came as a bit of a shock to his system.

He told the Telegraph last month: “It’s been mentally tough going from second division in the States where I was playing and hopefully I will get better and enjoy the experience and step on the field with the first team and score some goals.

“There’s a big difference in the football back home to over here. Even in the Under-23 games you can tell it’s a lot faster here, defenders are always right up my back and not giving me too much time to play. So it’s tough to adjust but it’s only going to make me better in the long run.”

Asked if he felt he was getting up to speed, he said: “Yes, definitely. Training has helped, being around the guys and just the intensity of it every day I feel I am getting there, but it’s a slow process.”

That process has moved on a month and he must now, surely, come into Venus’s thoughts for a place on the bench in the not too distant future.

There’s an ideal opportunity to test the water, to push the striker up a level when City travel to Wycombe Wanderers in the Checkatrade Trophy early next month. With the Sky Blues already qualified for the knock-out stages, the only thing riding on the game is the honour of earning a home draw in the next round so it’s an ideal stage for the American and, to be fair, the likes of Devon Kelly-Evans, who also has an impressive seven goals in the 23s, and George Thomas who hit his fifth this term in Tuesday’s impressive 3-1 win at Premier League development side Crystal Palace – City’s seventh win on the spin.

Tempted

But the Trophy game aside, Venus must be sorely tempted to chuck McBean into the matchday mix, if nothing else as an impact sub in the first instance to throw on late in a game if he needs a goal. The striker must have a reasonable level of fitness by now to cope with the rigours of the league and there’s clearly nothing wrong with his sharpness in front of goal.

Some strikers drift in and out of games but are worth their weight in gold because when they get a chance they invariably stick it in the back of the net. I don’t believe McBean is the type to go missing, more the sort that puts in a shift and runs himself in to the ground even when things aren’t going well for him.

He’s been patient and he surely can’t be far off being rewarded.