Reggie Lambe on goals, celebrations and anniversary presents
We caught up with goal scorer Reggie Lambe this week to get more detail about his rather strange celebration which included stuffing the ball up his shirt and sticking his thumb in his mouth – all of which was prearranged with his girlfriend Keiché to celebrate both the announcement of her pregnancy and the couple’s anniversary.So, with him hitting the back of the net all-but written in the stars before a ball had even been kicked, we left the job of explaining it all to the man himself … although we did accuse of him almost missing the target altogether!
“No, I didn’t, it was just that I wanted to get my shot right into the top corner,” he said. “As it came back to me I knew I just needed to hit the target and it went in, which was pleasing. I was very proud to be able to get my celebration off because it was something I’d told my girlfriend I would do.
“As well as finding out recently that we are going to have a baby in September, it was our anniversary! I’d told Keiché I would score for her and thankfully I did!”
“I’m very excited about being able to tell people we’re having a baby,” he continued. “We’ve had the first scan and it’s good to be able to let everyone know we’re having a little one. I’m very excited.
“I spoke to Keiché on the Friday night before the game and I told her I would do the celebration with the ball up my shirt. Like I said, it was our anniversary and I obviously couldn’t be with her, so it was nice to be able to do that. She was listening at home, and it was a shame she couldn’t come down and watch the game, but it was a good day.”
The goal came when the wide man reacted quickly to a parried save from the keeper to smash the loose ball into the top corner.
“The keeper made a great save from the first shot but it came back to me,” he explained. “I knew I had to hit the target because it was always going to be difficult for him to get back up. To come away with three points, two goals and a clean sheet on the back of the seven games without a goal is really good and we’ve got loads of confidence going into Saturday now.
“I’ve said before that I do want to get more goals. I have a bit of a fight with myself because I feel like I should be finishing more of the chances I get. We work on finishing a lot in training and I know as long as I keep hitting the target I’ll get more goals.”
The game brought a slight change in role as he switched to the left flank to cover the gap left by Nicky Adams.
“We were missing Nicky at the weekend so I knew with playing on his side that I had to step up and perform,” he told us. “For John’s [O’Sullivan] goal I made sure I picked my target and put in a good ball. Thankfully he got to it and scored a lovely header. I think he had his eyes closed, to be fair, but they all count!
“It is just as satisfying to get an assist as it is to score a goal. It’s almost the same, as long as the person puts it in the net it’s good for the team, so to get an assist is always as good as scoring a goal.”
Speaking more about his responsibilities in such a key role, he said: “I was looking forward to playing on the left. I’ve actually played out on the left a lot and it’s much more comfortable for me. They say a lot of right footed players like to cut in but I also find it easier to dribble that way with my right foot.
"I felt very comfortable and I just wanted to show what I can do and make sure that when Nicky does come back he’ll have competition for his spot.”
His solid and consistent personal performance earned him Man of the Match accolades from press and fans alike and he agreed that it had been one of his best performances in a blue shirt so far.
“It did feel that way,” he commented. “I felt like I showed my quality in the game but I think I should have had a few more goals. As a team we probably should have had a few more goals as well.
“Making sure we got the clean sheet was very good for us, in terms of what’s been happening recently, and it was something we’d targeted leading into the game. The victory was important to everyone. We all wanted to get out of the slump and there’s now a lot of confidence around as we look forward to Saturday.
“Hopefully this will be the start of another push to keep us in the play-off spots. We’ve had our blip and it’s time for us to get back to winning ways. I don’t think we’re mathematically ruled out of an automatic place but the first goal has to be to hold on to what we’ve got and then take it from there.
“We will keep believing that we can get third place but we’ll also be happy if we have to do it through the play-offs.”
“It’s all about Saturday now,” he insisted. “If we can add a home win to what we did last weekend it will put us in a great position. The fans have been brilliant and I hope they all come out and get behind us again.
“I think they’ve seen that we’re striving to get this club promoted and I think it will be another enjoyable game.”
United PlayerHD subscribers can see an interview with Reggie Lambe now. Click HERE to go to the PlayerHD platform. Follow the same link for more information on United PlayerHD, and to subscribe.