Jamaica international footballer Darren Mattocks has vowed not to fret over a lean scoring streak that has seen the striker get off to a rocky start to the 2013 United States Major League Soccer (MLS) season for the Vancouver Whitecaps.

The forward has found the back of the net just once in the past eight games, while representing the team in the MLS and while playing in the Canadian Championship. The player has, however, certainly not been short on opportunities to stick the ball into the back of the net. On Saturday against FC Dallas he had a few chances to end the drought, the best coming three minutes into the game when the ball fell to his feet in the area. The 22-year-old could only find goalkeeper Raul Fernandez with a straight on shot to goal.

"As a striker, I'm always going to judge myself on the goals I score," Mattocks told MLS Soccer (www.mlssoccer.com).

"I've missed quite a few chances ... the most important thing for me is putting the ball in the back of the net. I'm not going to stress about not scoring because that's the way it goes sometimes."

One of the 22-year-old's most glaring misses this season came in 2-1 defeat to Houston Dynamo, which saw the player having an opportunity to play in one of two teammates on a sweeping Whitecaps counter, he instead cut inside and fired a shot to goal, which was saved by the goalkeeper. Although Mattocks scored the opener he drew criticism from teammate Nigel Reo-Coker for not making the pass. Mattocks earned the team's Golden Boot award in his rookie season, last year, which saw him ending with seven goals.