ANDY Cook insists his sole focus is on finally dragging City out of League Two.

The talisman’s double against Carlisle took him to five goals from the first month of the season.

It was also the first time he had scored past the club who released him as a youngster.

But Cook says any personal plaudits will take a back seat in the pursuit for promotion.

“We just want to get out of this league,” he said. “It always hurts when you don’t go up.

“We’ve got high expectations and there’s a fanbase and expectation.

“But us as players have an expectation to get out of this league.

There’s no point being footballers if you don’t want that come the end of the season.”

Cook is eighth among City’s all-time leading scorers on 75 goals now – only 12 behind Dean Windass and 16 away from James Hanson in third place.

Graham Alexander has acknowledged the 33-year-old’s improved condition since coming back for pre-season and Cook believes it has made a difference.

He added “I’ve improved my fitness from last season.

“In the year I got top goal-scorer in the league I was fit and on it, you could say.

“I just want to be that person – I want to get fit again and just see where it takes me.

“Of course I was proud to get top scorer as a striker. But it doesn’t matter who gets it – the main thing is getting out the league.

“If you had said I wouldn’t be top scorer but we’d get out of the league then I’d have took it in a heartbeat.

“Every player wants to hear their name get sung because you know you’re doing something right. It is nice to hear, but I’d rather just get three points.

“I’m scoring goals and personally I’m over the moon but it doesn’t matter who scores, it’s about winning games.

“Getting out of this league is the main thing.

 

 

“That’s the main aim for everyone – the fans, players and staff – so we’ve just got to keep performing and looking at the next game coming up.”

Carlisle had been the only one of his former clubs that Cook had never scored against. Saturday’s 2-1 win at Valley Parade was the eighth time he had faced them for City – including those play-off encounters in 2023.

“Carlisle let me go. I got released without any appearances and that’s part and parcel of football.

“I can’t really remember, it was that far back.

“All I want to do is play football and thankfully I’ve had the chance.

“I just come into game wanting to perform, it doesn’t matter who it’s against. I just want to perform for this football club.

“We had to put it right after last week (at Grimsby). It doesn’t matter how you do it as long as you win games.

“The atmosphere helped us over the line. I thought it was great and we got the win for everyone - the fans, the players, the gaffer and staff.”