Midfield man pays tribute after marking the score sheet…
MIDFIELD man, Sam Mantom, dedicated his first goal in 17-months to his late great-grandfather.The 23-year old found the bottom corner with a cool finish against Southend United and couldn’t hide his enjoyment after finding the back of the net.
“I can’t explain how much I’ve missed that feeling,” smiled Mantom. “Especially missing all of last season through injury.
“To get back playing and scoring again is a feeling that I just can’t explain.
“It’s great to get on the score sheet so early on in the season as well. It’s an aspect of my game that I want to improve on so hopefully there will be more to follow.
“I’ve said for a few months now that when I score I wanted to dedicate it to my great granddad who passed away in December.
“He was always talking football with me and was nearly 100 years old when he passed so that one was for him.”
Having missed much of the 2014/15 campaign through injury, the former Player of the Season is hoping to provide some firepower from midfield despite delivering a particularly tame effort on Saturday.
“I scored five a few seasons ago from a deeper role so I want to keep getting in those advanced positions where I can get shots away,” he added. “There was one in the first half with the safety catch on! I could just hear Richard O’Kelly’s voice in my head saying ‘hit the target! Hit the target!’
“I probably thought about it too long and it ended up as a bit of a back pass.
“We’re a very happy camp at the moment. Southend will be a tough place to come for sides this year but we were very good.
“Especially first half, we absolutely dominated. We took the game to them and they had to chance their formation because they just couldn’t deal with us.
“After the break we had to defend a lot of long balls and pick up the second balls in midfield but I thought we done that superbly well.