Kevin Hayes spoke to Stockton Town media after his brace helped the Anchors to all three points, in a 2-0 win over Morpeth Town on Monday.
Kevin, who now tops the goal-scorers standings in the Northern Premier League, opened by providing his assessment on the matchup: “It was a tough game. We made a couple of changes from Saturday but there was still a large group who played the full-90 at Rushall where we all dug deep and gave everything we had, and I think it showed a little in the second-half today [against Morpeth] where we got a little bit tired, with a few unnecessary mistakes but overall I think we did really well, especially in the first-half, but we came away with three points so we’re all very happy.”
Hayes missed a large chunk of the early phases of last season recovering from an ankle injury, and he describes how much more comfortable he’s is finding his football this season in comparison: “I’m really happy with the start I have had individually, last year I came back into a whole new position and new role, but now I feel up to grips with the left-wing back position, and doing the attacking work as much as I can whilst helping out defensively, but when I get those opportunities I’m trying to take them as often as I can, so I’m very happy with how the year has started.”
He follows by adding more description into the defensive hustle that has gone into his new position: “I don’t mind doing it at all. I love running, I think my fitness is one of the best parts of my game so whatever end of the pitch the ball is at, I’m always happy to chase it.”
Hayes then went into detail on his wonderful free-kick that opened the scoring in the first-half: “Glen and I both stood over it, but Glen wasn’t there on Saturday when I sent one over the stand, but I thought the angle suited me really well, after they set-up the wall it was very inviting to try and curl it around the wall and it came off brilliantly, and then the penalty, the ‘keeper did really well to hold his ground after my stutter to wait for the goalkeeper to usually move, so I’ve just tried to place it into the corner and it sneaked in so yeah, I’m very happy today.”
The winger closes by looking ahead to the Anchors’ trip to Trafford in the Emirates FA Cup on Saturday, by saying: “These bank holiday’s take a lot out of us, so we need to take the time to recover and make sure we’re ready to go again at full-strength and hopefully progress and recreate what we did last year, and get a really good run going.”
Stockton fans can support Kevin and the team in Manchester on Saturday, by booking your place on the M&D Travel Supporters Coach by clicking here.
