We caught up with him after training on Thursday and here is every word of what our number nine had to say as the preparations intensify. 

On being back around the boys:

Yeah, it’s good! Obviously it’s been a long eight months for myself because of the injury I suffered back in October. It’s been quite a long wait, but we’re here now. It has come around, not quick but quick enough for me. It’s really good to be back in with the boys and get back out on the grass. 

On the break being a positive for him in a footballing sense:

I have seen it as a positive for me, considering a lot of the games were called off also, I haven’t actually missed that much in terms of the season. I have missed about 10 to 12 games, but I was expected to have missed quite a bit more than that.

The fact that the pandemic did happen has been a bonus for myself and I am just glad to be back in and around it now. 

On the Bees form before lockdown and the direction we were going in:

We had four games in hand and we were only four points off of it, so one win from those would have put us right in it. Win all four and that puts us up to third or fourth. So there is no doubt the form the lads were in we would have made the play-offs anyway. 

I think we totally deserve this opportunity.

On the firepower at our disposal in attacking areas and the competition for places:

I think all the strikers thrive off the competition! Macca (Paul McCallum) has come in and done well, Sim (Simeon Akinola) is our top goalscorer and is flying. Plus there’s Josh (Walker), he’s done well and he ended up scoring 15 goals. 

Obviously I have been in the physio room with Shaq (Coulthirst), so I have got to know him really well on a personal level. You can see how sharp he has been in training, there is no doubt that the competition will be good and everyone will be fighting for their place. 

On his excitement for the play-offs:

Considering there are no fans it’s going to be different, but it is the same for both teams. I don’t think there’s going to be much difference between being home or away, there won’t be anyone in the stadium. 

Everyone is confident and everyone has come back in good shape, everyone is raring to go. We’re just looking at it one game at a time at the moment, but we are preparing for all three. Let’s hope we can go there, get the win and move on to the next game.