THIS time last year, Jordan Hugill was on the verge of making a £10m move to West Ham. Twelve months on, and the Middlesbrough loanee feels he is rediscovering the form that persuaded the Hammers to shell out an eight-figure fee.

Hugill’s move to the London Stadium was supposed to provide him with an opportunity to make his mark in the Premier League; instead, it led to five months of frustration as he played just 22 minutes of top-flight football for David Moyes’ side.

His lack of match action was exacerbated by a hamstring injury that curtailed his pre-season, and Moyes’ successor, Manuel Pellegrini, quickly decided he did not have a future with the Hammers.

A season-long loan at his hometown club, Middlesbrough, gave him a chance to get his career back on track, but after such a lengthy spell on the sidelines, it was perhaps understandable that his early appearances on Teesside featured a fair amount of ring rust.

Things have gradually improved, with Boro boss Tony Pulis becoming increasingly keen to name Hugill in his starting side, and after breaking his Championship duck with a double in last weekend’s 2-0 win over Wigan Athletic, the Boro-born striker feels he is just about back to his best.

“I feel as though I’m starting to get back to where I was when I went to West Ham,” said Hugill, who has edged ahead of both Britt Assombalonga and Rudy Gestede in Boro’s attacking pecking order. “I still think the time was brilliant for me there at West Ham. I learned a lot, but I wasn’t playing any games so you kind of lose that match sharpness and the stuff that you need in games.

“I think it’s starting to come back now. I know things weren’t happening at the time, but I was more focused on getting my performances better than scoring goals because I know for a fact that when my performances are good, the goals will come.

“I did the first two or three weeks of pre-season, and then I did my hamstring. It’s not ideal because it always puts you a bit behind schedule. I wanted to get through a full pre-season and then show what I could do, but that didn’t happen. I’m here now though and I feel as though that’s all coming back.”

Having gone ten Championship appearances without a goal, Hugill opened his Boro account when he converted a first-half penalty against Wigan.

There was plenty of pressure as he placed the ball on the spot following a foul on George Friend, not least because he had missed in identical circumstances in his last appearance against the Latics. However, the outcome of his latest spot-kick was much more positive.

“Was there any pressure? Yeah, because I’d missed a penalty against Wigan the last time I played them,” said Hugill, in an interview with Middlesbrough’s official website. “It was one of them where I just tried to put it to the back of my mind. I knew I was confident in myself, in my ability, and I just thought, ‘The keeper’s always going to dive, so put it down the middle’.”

Having opened the scoring, Hugill scored again at the end of the first half, but his afternoon came to a premature end when he was forced to hobble off in the second period.

Thankfully, the injury was nothing worse than a dead leg, and the 26-year-old has already recovered sufficiently to resume full training.

He will be part of the Boro squad that attends a training camp at RAF Leeming later this week, and should be available for the trip to Brentford that marks the end of the international break.

“It’s nothing too serious,” he said. “It was just a dead leg, although it was straight on my quad, so it was a painful one at the time. I’m sure it’ll be alright for running around at the RAF camp this week.”