PERS. INFORMATION

CLUB HISTORY

• Coggeshall Town FC | Youth – 2020
• Chelmsford City FC | 2020 – 2023
• Canvey Island | 2020 – 2021 (on loan)
• Braintree Town FC | 2023 – …

INTERVIEW

Introduce yourself…

I am 25 years old from Essex and have been playing football since I was 8 years old.

As a right winger, how would you describe your playing style? What do you see as your key strengths: is it pace, crossing, dribbling, defensive work-rate, or something else?

I like to think I’m very direct and unpredictable using both feet, being able to run in behind off the ball, beat my man 1v1 carrying the ball or have the vision to pick out a cross or shoot. I also take pride in my pressing from the front being a handful defenders selfless running making bad balls into good balls.

Do you prefer to stay wide and take defenders on, or cut inside and create chances, and how do you adapt depending on the opponent?

I think it depends what team I’m playing in, in recent times I’ve found myself on the last shoulder making runs from outside to in running in on goal. However in previous seasons I’ve been use to staying high and wide to receive the ball isolating defenders to create a yard to create opportunities. I have always seen my running off the ball as a strength whether it’s turning defences to face their own goal or to arrive in the box for goalscoring opportunities making myself difficult to mark.

You spent an important part of your early career at Coggeshall Town, where you began to establish yourself in men’s football. How would you describe that experience?

I was with Coggeshall in various of teams and age groups for just over 10 years which was great with it being my local club and I witnessed the club really progress year on year. I thoroughly enjoyed my time playing grass roots football and then making the transition into senior football which was tough at first adapting to the physicality and building my confidence finding out about myself. When with the reserves and then first team I found minutes hard to come by but looking back there was some beneficial character building and adaptability from playing with men to then playing with players with great pedigree and expectations for the level.

Many players talk about how non-league football toughens you up. What did you learn from that environment that still helps you today?

Like I say I experienced some tough moments which tested my resilience, belief and patience. From sitting on the bench, facing criticism from managers and teammates, loss of confidence and gaining that resilience to comeback and never give up attitude with hard work that ignites your desire to achieve what you want from the game.

Your move to Chelmsford City was a big step up in competition and professionalism. What do you remember most about that transition?

When signing for Chelmsford I remember feeling a slight imposter syndrome with the profile of players I was training with when initially coming into the club on trial. Once signing I noticed a real increase in quality especially in players composure and ability for players to make quick decisions and players technical ability in terms of how they manipulate the ball was really noticeable.

During your loan at Canvey Island, you got consistent minutes and a chance to express yourself. How important was that spell for your confidence and development?

I actually found it really tough at Canvey Island they had a great side there and I joined with the belief I could break into the team however the team had a brilliant season and it was one of the most frustrating times in my career because I couldn’t argue with my lack of minutes and found it really tough to make my mark on the team. So I suppose I look back on that experience testing my resilience again as although the team had success I spent many weekends rather down as much as I wanted to be happy for the team selfishly I was very disappointed as all I wanted to do was play.

Now at Braintree Town, you seem to have found a strong platform to perform regularly. How has your experience here been so far?

My time at Braintree has been nothing short of eventful! Probably the most successful time in my career so far, I’ve made memories to last a life time that I will never forget winning my first ever trophy through the drama of the play offs in my first season after a slow start to the season to then going on an incredible run to winning the play offs and gaining promotion to the National League to then surviving in our first season. The places, moments and people I have experienced have been incredible. There’s been tough moments as well but the highs have really outweighed the lows.

Looking at your career horizon, where do you see yourself in 2-3 years? Are there leagues or clubs you’d like to play in?

I just want to make sure I’m better than I am now. I will push myself as far as I can for as long as I can. I would love to play in the football league and see where that takes me.

What personal targets have you set for this season (goals, assists, minutes played, development milestones)?

I wasn’t too happy with my season personally last year but I viewed it as a season of adaptation into full time football and a higher standard. So going into this season I wanted to improve my confidence and self belief at the level mentally and to score more goals than I did last year which was 3 which I have already managed to equal so I’m pleased with my progress but hungry for more. Unfortunately I have suffered a couple of injuries so another target will be to continue the rest of the season injury free.