Haverhill Rovers top scorer Joe Greenslade-Cross benefits from positional change in ‘best season’

Haverhill Rovers winger Joe Greenslade-Cross (who has now transfered to higher-league Soham Town Rangers) feels he has the confidence he is going to ‘score in every game’ following his ‘unbelievable’ form in the Thurlow Nunn League First Division North.

The man who arrived at The New Croft from Walsham-le-Willows in the summer has netted 20 times in 21 games in all competitions so far this campaign and is thriving under boss Ben Cowling.

Greenslade-Cross has previously played in central midfield and at left-back, but this season has been given license to cause havoc against other teams on Rovers’ wing.

He said: “It’s been my best season for sure.

“It’s unbelievable. I go into every game thinking that I’m going to get at least one chance to score and I will put it away, that’s my mentality at the moment.

“Sometimes I get literally one chance and I score.

“I just know that I’m good enough and I feel like I’m going to score in every game to be honest.”

Greenslade-Cross works as a personal trainer and has improved his own speed and reaction time, which he is seeing prove effective on the pitch.

He described himself as a ‘direct’ and ‘quick’ winger who loves to take players on and wants to try and achieve a goal per game come the end of the campaign.

“I’ve noticed that I’m a lot quicker than I have been in any other season and that’s definitely helped,” he said.

“Just being given the opportunity to start every game and show what I’m about has been really good, as last year I was at Walsham and I wasn’t really given the chance to.

“I just have that confidence in me now, so I’m not worried about misplacing a pass because if I know if I get a goal I’m going to be okay.”

But he was also keen to pay tribute to the work from his team-mates in his goals tally this term.

He said: “We’ve got some really good players. I’m taking credit for the goals but some of them people have put on a plate for me or have played to my strengths.

“They’ve played the ball over the full-back’s head and they know that I’m going to get there.”

While he does not have a favourite goal so far, he felt his best performance came on the opening day of the season in a 3-2 defeat to Holland FC. That was back when Ryan Gibbs was at the helm at The New Croft outfit and Greenslade-Cross admitted that ‘all changed’ at the club with only ‘one or two players’ remaining from the start of the campaign.

“The whole team has changed completely,” he said, “we’ve brought in some really good players and now we should be kicking on.

“We should have done better than what we have in the last few weeks (prior to Saturday). It’s been a good change and I think Haverhill needed it.”

Rovers bounced back from three straight defeats where they had conceded four times in each in all competitions on Saturday with a 2-1 home victory against play-off chasing Diss Town.

A Tom Debenham volley after 23 minutes, following good work by Ryan Weaver, put them in front against the Tangerines.

The same player then doubled their advantage with his second nine minutes into the second half after knocking in the rebound from his saved penalty after the goalkeeper had fouled Weaver.

Diss’ consolation came in the 92nd minute from Ben Blyth.

The three points leaves Rovers 15th in the table ahead of returning to action on Tuesday with their Boxing Day game away to sixth-placed AFC Sudbury Reserves (11am).

Cowling’s side will end the year back at The New Croft on Saturday, December 30 against Wivenhoe Town (3pm).