Youth team product preparing for the FA Cup Final...
IT WILL be a proud moment for The Saddlers on Saturday as youth team product, Matty Fryatt, takes part in the FA Cup Final for Hull City as they face Arsenal.The 28 year-old local lad came through the Banks’s Stadium ranks and was a regular on the scoresheet for the youth and reserve teams before continuing that prowess in front of goal at first-team level.
He made his senior debut for The Saddlers in September 2003 in a League Cup clash at Bolton Wanderers and went on to score 30 times in a total of 78 games in all competitions.
His talent and ability soon marked him out as a popular figure amongst the supporters and he deservedly walked away with the 2004/05 Player of the Season award.
Moving on to Leicester City at the turn of 2006, he eventually joined Hull City in a seven-figure deal five years later.
“It is unimaginable that I will be playing in an FA Cup final, if I am honest,” said Fryatt. “This doesn’t happen to someone like myself normally.
“If I think about it too much, it won’t be good. I have to approach it as a normal game and deal with it like that.
“I am not playing that down. I will look back and see it as a massive achievement. Standing here now, I have to look at it like another game. Otherwise, it will be too much.
“I used to love watching the Cup final as a kid. Grandstand had the build-up from 9am and there would be cameras on the bus and so on. The players would be interviewed; I know I’d rather play cards than all that but watching it was exciting. The TV companies would then go to the team hotels and interview all sorts.
“That side of the Cup final has died down but, as a kid, I loved it. In a way, it is a shame that has all gone, but times have changed.”
With thanks to the Hull Daily Mail...