Walsall captain Donervon Daniels admitted scoring and captaining his country was a real ‘pinch yourself’ moment and is now looking have a similar impact against Forest Green Rovers this weekend.
Daniels played in victories over Dominican Republic and Barbados, scoring against the latter.
There has been plenty to celebrate given his achievements on international duty and his 30th birthday today. He is hoping to top it off with a victory over David Horseman’s side at the Poundland Bescot Stadium.
Daniels is bursting with pride and on a real high after his time with Montserrat.
“It was an incredible feeling being back in Montserrat and just being back in the country,” he said.
“It was the first time for me since we left when I was three and just being back there, I was hit with a wave of emotion. The whole experience of the trip was great and being amongst the boys was good as well.
“We have an experienced group of lads who have gone on a number of tours so I had people to speak to but once I found out the team, once I found out that I was going to be captain, I was so excited and I don’t usually get it but I had a real nervous energy.
“I gave some of the best stuff that I could give and I loved it and happily, we came away with some important wins in some good games against some tough opposition.
“In the second game, which I got my first goal of the season in against Barbados, that was amazing. Captaining my country was one of those moments where you go, ‘wow, I can’t believe this is happening’ and then when I scored, it was a real pinch yourself moment.
“It’s the first time saying it out loud but I loved it. It has been a long time coming, Dan Watson will tell you that we practice every day on the training pitch and I have had some really good opportunities to score this season and I am glad that it has eventually come, even more so for my country but I want to bring that goal contribution to the club now and score at the right end in front of our fans at home this weekend against Forest Green and if I can do that, it really would be the icing on the cake to what has been a great last 10 days or so.”
A bumper crowd is expected at the Poundland Bescot Stadium with over 1600 school children joining us as part of Walsall FC Foundation’s School Partners initiative.
Daniels is excited to be playing in front of an excitable crowd and is hoping to inspire the next generation.
“It is something that as a group we take great pride in,” Daniels commented.
“We are a young group of lads on the whole and there are some in there who have come through the academy and they will have been inspired by the generations before ours.
“We want to inspire the next generation, it’s going to be a really good crowd with the additional support we have from the young fans.
“They are always in great voice when they come, especially in the warm up so I am looking forward to that.
“Forest Green is going to be a tough game for us. I have been back in for a couple of days now, we have been going through the game plan with the gaffer for the weekend and we know it is going to be a tough game but with the right plan, I think we know that we can cause them a lot of problems.”