Newly appointed vice-captain Alex Pearce is fully focused on the immediate task ahead, with newly promoted Wrexham in town tomorrow afternoon.
The experienced centre-back helped keep a clean sheet, in our opening League Two game at Grimsby last weekend, and was on the bench as we made use of the squad for Wednesday’s Carabao Cup victory over Coventry.
“Let the focus be on Wrexham and what they’re doing,” said Alex. “That’s more than okay. We’ll just go about our business in the way that we do. We’re at home, so I’d like to think that any home game that we have – we’ll be a match for anybody. It’s a great one to get our teeth into!”
Johnnie Jackson’s first signing for the club, when Alex arrived from Millwall last summer, had plenty of interesting things to say after training in New Malden.
How delighted were you to be appointed our new vice-captain?
It’s a huge honour. The gaffer spoke to me before the Wealdstone friendly and told me he was going to do that, and I was more than pleased to accept that role. We’ve got a fantastic group here, so to be chosen for that is a privilege, along with Jake Reeves as captain.
Just remind us of the injury situation last season because it must have been an incredibly frustrating time for you.
It was. You ask any player when they get injured and it’s extremely frustrating and for me, last year overall, was a frustrating one. I ended up pulling my groin four times. To do that was very frustrating.
That’s all in the past now and I’m back fully fit, I worked extremely hard in the off season, and I was pleased with how it went in pre-season, for myself, personally. Long may that continue.
Is that the objective now? I heard from Johnnie that they want more games out of you.
Yes, it’s an objective for myself as well. Never mind what the football club want, it’s what I want! I’m overly desperate to play more than I did last season. I put that demand on myself, that’s what I want to do and I’m sure they do too. It’s a case of doing everything you can to make sure that happens. Once you’re doing that yourself, you can try and help others.
New regulations came in at Grimsby last Saturday. We saw nine minutes held up towards the end there. What do you make of that as a professional at the moment?
To be honest with you, it was pretty crazy! I’ve never experienced it before. When I saw that go up on the board, I thought that’s incredible.
To go on and play an extra three minutes makes twelve. They think it’s the right way to go, but I think that’s going to put a lot of extra stress on the bodies of the players. I think we’re going to have to be mindful of that.
Terry Skiverton said after the game on Saturday that it’s going to make our recovery all the more important. All those extra minutes are going to add up to extra games across the season. Again, it goes back to making sure that you’re in the best possible condition -because a lot is going to happen in those extra minutes. It’s going to be a tough ask, for sure.
Wrexham are the visitors on Saturday, they bring a lot of attention with them. How do we go about focusing on what we have to do?
I don’t see that as a problem. Let the focus be on them. Let the focus be on Wrexham and what they are doing as a football club, all the off-field antics that they’ve got with their owners and the players that they’re signing. That’s more than okay. We’ll just go about our business in the quiet way that we do.
We’re at home, so I’d like to think that any home game that we have – we’ll be a match for anybody. We’re looking to make Plough Lane a fortress this season, but it’ll be a great atmosphere and a great game to get our teeth into!
Photos: Simon Davies and Ian Stephen (Pro Sports Images).