Luke Joyce on his Goal of the Month Award
Midfielder Luke Joyce bagged an absolute beauty of a goal against Crawley Town in October and the stunning strike has since been voted as the Sky Bet League Two Goal of the Month - making it the first time one club has ever scooped all three of the monthly awards.We spoke to him about it on Thursday morning shorty after he had picked up his trophy.
“I’m chuffed to bits,” he said. “I was chuffed with the goal itself, because I hadn’t scored for a while, so to get this award is brilliant. I’ll just have to make sure the kids don’t get their hands on it otherwise there’ll be felt tip pen all over it and it’ll be in three or four different bits!
“When it’s something the fans get to vote on it does make it more special. To be top of that vote feels really good."
“I've scored a couple of decent goals even though I’m sure nobody believes me when I say that," continued. "It’s got to be the best goal I’ve scored. To hit it from that distance and for it to go in off the bar, and into the side netting - I was just chuffed to bits.
“I might never get nominated again so it’s nice to win it this time round. I’m always appreciative when I win any type of award. It’s a great achievement for us to have Manager of the Month, Player of the Month and Goal of the Month all at the same time.
“I’d be surprised if any other club has won all three awards like that before. That’s a feat in itself and it shows the work we’re doing as players, staff and everyone at the football club is positive."
The nomination for the award became even more special following a visit from the player to see his granddad in hospital.
"He wanted to watch the goal with me, which we did, and we talked about the game and how things were going this season," he explained. "He'd been in hospital for a few weeks, and we didn't really expect him to come out, if I'm being honest, but we received the bad news that he'd passed away on Tuesday.
“I hadn’t really mentioned the situation to the lads because it's something that was going on within my family at the time, and it is obviously sad news. As I say, it wasn’t a massive surprise, because he hadn’t been well for a while, but it still comes as a shock.
“It’s nice to get this award for him and it will be announced on Friday when I’m at his funeral. It’s kind of poignant that it will be awarded on the same day. It will bring a bit of cheer to everyone who is at the funeral and will give us something to talk about, which will be quite nice."
Having picked up the award, and taken words of encouragment from his granddad, he revealed that manager Keith Curle is also keen to see more of the same.
“We’ve just done an interview with the gaffer fo Sky TV and he’s set me a target of six goals for the season," he said. "I think I’m going to have to get a few more finishing practices in!
"I’ve said for the past few seasons that I need to start adding more goals to my game. The partnership I’ve got with Mike Jones has allowed me to get forward a bit more. I’ve had a few near misses this season and I was disappointed not to knock one in against Newport on Saturday. The good thing is that I’m getting chances and more shots at goal.
“The lads were gutted at Newport and the whole feeling during the week has been frustration with Saturday’s game. We were on a good run and we wanted to keep it going as long as possible. To lose it in the manner we did was very disappointing. The lads are itching to get out there on Saturday and put it right."
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