Our fans can sing about yet another homegrown star following Monday night's first round league cup victory, writes James Barrett.
While the likes of Tommy Bradford, Mickel Miller, Ricky Korboa and Sean O’Toole have grabbed recent headlines, eighteen year-old Josh Phillips scored his first senior goals to help us to a 4-1 win over Molesey.
And the forward, who has most recently been an integral part of the club’s under 21 team, is simply happy to be a part of our overall positive start to the season.
“Everyone was distraught at how we went out of the FA Cup but I’ve been involved in the last two games and the atmosphere in the changing room has been great,” he said.
“I was told last week that I’d be in the weekend squad and, although I was simply happy to get on late against Guernsey, I was really delighted to help the team win on Monday.”
We fell behind inside the first 20 seconds against Molesey but, after Bradford saw a 28th minute penalty saved, Phillips levelled matters before half-time with a neat 15 yard finish.
Defender Bobby Price put us ahead with a close range deflected effort just after the hour, while Phillips won and converted a second spot-kick before Korboa plundered a late fourth.
“Tommy and I just shared a look of ‘What just happened?!’ when they scored so early,” Phillips smiled, “but the manager has built a great team spirit here and we bounced back really well.
“I’ve set myself a bit of a standard now and I hope I get more chances to help the team moving forwards.”
We will travel to South Park in the second round of the Ryman League Cup as they beat Chipstead 2-1 in the same competition last night.