Burnley defender Tom Anderson on extending his loan spell
Burnley defender Tom Anderson spoke to us about the extension to his loan deal which keeps him at Brunton Park until the beginning of next month.
“I’m very happy to be staying here and hopefully I’ll have another good month,” he said. “If that happens there could be a chance that I’ll be able to extend again.
“First and foremost I’ve got to impress everyone and do my talking on the pitch. If the gaffer wants me to stay after that then I don’t see why it won’t happen.”
“It’s all good experience for me and I just want to carry this on and get more games under my belt,” he continued. “The staff at Burnley are pleased with how it’s going because they know it’s improving me as a player.
“I think I’ve done well since I got here. I didn’t have my best game against Dagenham but that happens in football. You’ve just got to pick yourself up and get going again.”
“The good thing is I’ve heard the manager say some nice things about me,” he told us. “Comments like that are what I want to see. I want to keep impressing him and, going back to the loan move, if that means he wants to keep me then happy days.
“I feel like I’ve settled well here. It’s a good set of lads in the dressing room. I’ve got quite close with Sean [O’Hanlon] and Billy [Paynter] because we travel up together, and things like that always helps.
“I was used to the physical side you can expect out on the pitch at this level because of my spell in the conference. Mind you, it’s another level up with it in League Two. It’s much tougher and you have to stand up to it. I don’t mind that because it’s part and parcel of the game and you have to work hard on doing the best you can.”
“The situation we’re in is new to me,” he admitted. “I’ve never been involved in this sort of thing but the lads are sticking together. That’s something we’ll continue to do. It can be frustrating because we got a very good performance against Accrington. We weren’t at our best the week after that but this is football. You get your ups and downs. You’ve got to learn from all of it and make sure you keep improving.”
“This week has been tough but it’s been good,” he commented. “We’ve done a lot of 11v11 work and if we keep practicing that then practice makes perfect in my opinion. Everybody is going to make mistakes and we’ve got to try and cut them out.
“I suffered from that at Dagenham and it wasn’t nice to be left out last week. I sort of had a feeling it could happen. I didn’t enjoy it but you’ve got to think about what’s best for the team, then do your best to get back in there. You just pick yourself up and go again.
“The gaffer said at the time it was a big learning curve for me and I was able to watch two experienced guys in Sean O’Hanlon and Paul Thirlwell, to learn from them. Again, it’s all about staying positive and doing what you can to help the team get three points.”
“This is an important period because there are a lot of games coming up in a short period,” he concluded. “We’re all looking forward to it. If you look at the table there isn’t a lot between the teams so a few wins will get us right back up there. That’s what we’re aiming to achieve.”
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