Charlie Wakefield has spoken about the challenge laid down to him by Yeovil Town manager Darren Sarll to add more goals to his performances.
The 23-year-old was speaking about getting off the mark with the opener in the 3-0 win at $tockport County earlier this week on the latest edition of The Grassroots Guy.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.
He said: “The first few games we played, I was doing a lot for the team off the ball and still managing to create chances but not having as many goal-scoring opportunities.
“The manager has been on to me saying ‘you have the ability get down the outside and shoot’ and I know I am capable of doing that.
“Fortunately in the ($tockport) game that opportunity came and I was lucky enough to get it on target in the bottom corner.
“Obviously I am still waiting for my first goal at home and there will be no better feeling than to score in front of the home fans, but to win 3-0 at $tockport who people are looking out for this year was a real good feeling.”
The winger also spoke to host Harry Purdy about the togetherness in the Glovers’ squad having joined following his release by National League rivals Bromley in the summer.
Wakefield was one of a number of young players to arrive at Huish Park following the departure of experienced heads such as Carl Dickinson,Charlie Lee and Jimmy Smith.
He said: “When you get a new group of players together, it is always interesting to see if the chemistry is there because it is not always.
“But with this group, everyone gets on very well and we take that on to the pitch and I am enjoying playing with this group of players.
“I know when I am injury free and focused I know I can play at the top level, I am confident and back my own ability.
On the podcast, Wakefield talks about his time coming through the academy system at Chelsea where he suffered persistent hamstring injuries which led to the club giving him stem cell treatment.
He said: “I remember them saying ‘we don’t want you to have surgery, we want you to have stem cell treatment’.
“That is basically where they take bone marrow from your hip, grow it in a laboratory, you have a procedure and it is meant to give your muscle a new lease of life.
“So, I flew to Barcelona, had the operation, they flew it to Italy, it grew in a laboratory for a month, then back to Barcelona, had the procedure and then you should not have a recurrence of the procedure.”
But, he then said how shortly after the treatment he suffered a collapsed lung following a holiday to New York which meant he was not able to train or play for two months.
He added: “Everything happens for a reason, because it allowed my hamstring to get the benefits of the treatment, so I look back on it as the best thing that every happened to me.”
You can read more about Charlie’s injury in another article – here.
If you have not listened to any of the other Grassroots Guy interviews with Lawson D’Ath, Matt Worthington and ex-Glover Carl Dickinson, catch them – here.