INTERVIEW: It's now up to me

“The start of the season was really frustrating for me,” he said. “I thought I’d done well in pre-season but it was a case of staying patient through those first five games or so. Hopefully I’ve done enough to keep going from here.

“Tony Caig and Paul Thirlwell told me to go out there, get in the opposition half and try and get on the ball as much as I could ahead of the game on Tuesday night and before this one. They wanted me to try and make things happen and I think I managed to do that.”

“I got a couple of assists in the Accrington game and that’s just as good as scoring,” he continued. “If you’re playing out wide you do look to be setting things up, and it’s good when it comes off for the team. I’ll keep knuckling down now and try to be a regular starter for the new manager as well.”

“My confidence probably did take a bit of a hit at the start of the season but I always believe in myself and in what I can do,” he said. “The last two games have given me a massive amount of belief and I just want to go on and have a good season and help the team to get up to the top end of the league, where we should be.”

Looking back at last Monday, he said: “It’s always a strange day when a manager goes. It came down to Thir and Caigy to lift everyone and I think they did that. They know the lads, so that helped, and everyone responded to what was going on. They mentioned before the Wimbledon game that the new manager could be in the stands watching so we all knew we needed to perform and make an impression.” 

And on his first goal for the club, he said: “I cut back inside and I really couldn’t have hit it any better. I was pleased it didn’t hit the bar and come back out. Fortunately it went in for me so happy days.

“I did have options when I got into the box but the defender showed me which way he wanted me to go. I was going to drag it onto my left foot and cut back with it, but a space opened up for me and I decided to have a go. Luckily enough it found the top corner.”

“I do hope I’m starting to show the fans what I can do,” he commented. “I want to show I can play at this level consistently and it’s up to me to get out there and do things as well as I can. Graham Kavanagh told me before he left to keep working hard and that the chance would come for me. I wasn’t sure that was going to happen with the way the season was going, but he used me in his last game and that led to me to getting a start against Accrington and Wimbledon. 

“Thir and Caigy told me I deserved my chance last Tuesday night and it was down to me to take it with both hands. They showed a bit of confidence in me and I knew I had to pay that back. I did that again on Saturday and it’s just a shame we didn’t get the three points for the fans. 

“The sending off changed things in the game but I couldn’t really see it properly from where I was. I’m not sure it was a deliberate handball, but I suppose it was a penalty by the letter of the law. It’s just a double blow when you get a sending off and they score a goal from an incident like that. The penalty was harsh in the first place but the red card killed us. That put our backs against the wall for the last ten minutes.”

“Sitting in the dressing room at the end of the game it probably even felt like a defeat,” he admitted. “The positive is that we scored some really good goals and, if we can tighten up at the back, we’re going to start really pushing on.

“We’ve got a good squad and we’re putting in good performances even though we’ve got five or six injuries to key players. We’re going to be even better once we have everyone available.”