Anthony Cook was desperate to take home the match ball this afternoon but preferred the fact his side scored six goals.
The Fleet winger, who engaged in a little banter with home fans in the second half and explained he’d never had the pleasure of claiming a match ball, was unfortunate to see his chance go begging – but in a typically upbeat and entertaining interview with BBC Radio Kent’s Charles Webster, he took the positives.
“I wanted a hat-trick and I had a great opportunity but I missed it,” Cook said. “But we scored six goals – if that went in, we might not have scored six goals so I’d rather win 6-1 than win 4-1 and I get a hat-trick – it puts more goals on the goal difference.”
Of his superb second goal, Cook brushed aside the superlatives with a much more succinct commentary of his strike from 30/35 yards. “It was a good finish. I spotted the keeper off his line and then just… scored!”
And if Cook’s attitude to being left out of the side recently is anything to go by, then Fleet’s spirit in the camp is buoyant. “The team’s being doing well,” he said. “The gaffer changed the team when we lost to Kidderminster and the boys have just been on fire since the start of the year apart from that game v Kidderminster. We don’t look like conceding many, we’re creating lots of opportunities and everybody is playing their part. Jack Powell came in today and scored a goal. Mark Phillips came in today, Darren McQueen came on and scored.
“Now I’m back on the wing but when we were playing 3-5-2 it was going well and I was wing-back. I’ll just do whatever the gaffer asks. The gaffer tells us how he wants us to play, I think he’s brought in players that he trusts and can do a job so as long as each individual is going out there and doing their job I think we have a very good chance of winning every game we play regardless of home or away.”
And with the season now entering the final 10 games, Cook is clearly eyeing the title and hoping to avoid any further play-off suspense and drama.
“I’m not interested in the play-offs, I don’t think I’ve ever won in the play-offs,” he said. “I’ve been in the play-offs or won the league every year that I’ve played football and I’ve never won the play-offs so I’m not interested!
“We can’t take our foot off the gas. We were only top by alphabetical order so of course we have to continue going and going, not look at any other team and just keep doing what we’re doing. We don’t take our foot off the gas in training. Everyone trains hard.”
Listen to the full interview below.
https://soundcloud.com/eufcofficial/cook-east-thurrock-home
