Times spotlight on Bryan Hughes
If one had said at the beginning of this week that Friday's Times would carry a special feature article on Bryan Hughes, most of the Addickted would have fallen about laughing. But the taker of the decisive penalty against Chelsea has received such billing and here are some extracts from the article where he talks about his role at Charlton:
“I’m prepared to take that pressure [not being in the side] and deal with it. Last night it was nice to get the glory. I’ve been in the dark for the past 18 months, really. I’ve been part of the squad and not established myself as I would have liked.”
The 29-year-old Liverpudlian joined Charlton from Birmingham on a free transfer in the summer of 2004, but made only ten Barclays Premiership starts last season and only one in the present campaign, during which Danny Murphy, Alexei Smertin and Radostin Kishishev have claimed the central midfield places.
“I didn’t expect to walk into the team, but always believed that I would manage to get in. But it’s taking a long time — two or three games here, two or three there,” he said.
“You want to play every game but you have to stay focused and prepared to get in there. I was disappointed at the start of the first game because I thought I was going to be in the first XI, but the manager (Alan Curbishley) went a certain way and we’ve had the results since then. I’m a professional and I’ve got to be able to take it, and I know that sooner or later my chance will come. I have had a word with him and see where he’s coming from.”
Hughes will probably be back on the bench for tomorrow’s match at home to Bolton Wanderers, although he can expect to come on at some point, as he has done in seven of the team’s nine games so far. “Alan knows what I’m capable of. Often I’ve come on away from home when we’ve been protecting a lead but I like to get forward and hope that when I do get called on I can chip in with a goal,” he said.
I met Hughes when he was man of the match after the cup game against Rochdale. Whether he will be confined to such second string events remains to be seen, although ITV actually described him as a 'journeyman' when he took the penalty. One thing that occurred to me after reading the article is that he is a potential alternative to Kishishev.
“I’m prepared to take that pressure [not being in the side] and deal with it. Last night it was nice to get the glory. I’ve been in the dark for the past 18 months, really. I’ve been part of the squad and not established myself as I would have liked.”
The 29-year-old Liverpudlian joined Charlton from Birmingham on a free transfer in the summer of 2004, but made only ten Barclays Premiership starts last season and only one in the present campaign, during which Danny Murphy, Alexei Smertin and Radostin Kishishev have claimed the central midfield places.
“I didn’t expect to walk into the team, but always believed that I would manage to get in. But it’s taking a long time — two or three games here, two or three there,” he said.
“You want to play every game but you have to stay focused and prepared to get in there. I was disappointed at the start of the first game because I thought I was going to be in the first XI, but the manager (Alan Curbishley) went a certain way and we’ve had the results since then. I’m a professional and I’ve got to be able to take it, and I know that sooner or later my chance will come. I have had a word with him and see where he’s coming from.”
Hughes will probably be back on the bench for tomorrow’s match at home to Bolton Wanderers, although he can expect to come on at some point, as he has done in seven of the team’s nine games so far. “Alan knows what I’m capable of. Often I’ve come on away from home when we’ve been protecting a lead but I like to get forward and hope that when I do get called on I can chip in with a goal,” he said.
I met Hughes when he was man of the match after the cup game against Rochdale. Whether he will be confined to such second string events remains to be seen, although ITV actually described him as a 'journeyman' when he took the penalty. One thing that occurred to me after reading the article is that he is a potential alternative to Kishishev.
posted by Wyn Grant at 5:26 AM
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