Max: I got a bit of luck and I’m proud to have kept my place
BREWERS’ PLAYER OF THE SEASON IS HUMBLE ABOUT HIS BATTLE TO MAKE STEP UP
MAX Crocombe clutched his Burton Albion Player of the Season award and spoke eloquently and with humility about not taking his rise from non-league football to League One for granted.
It is easy from the outside to see the Brewers’ two senior goalkeepers as equals. Both Crocombe and Jamal Blackman are 30 and they have played approximately the same number of senior games.
But that is not how former Grimsby Town keeper Crocombe sees it. He clearly regards Blackman, the former Sheffield United, Rotherham United and Exeter City keeper, among others, as the more experienced man.
And he therefore sees it as a considerable feather in his own cap to have kept Blackman out of the team for most of the season.
“It’s a very proud moment to take home the award and be recognised by everyone,” said Crocombe.
“I’m humbled and honoured and thank you to everyone who voted for me.
“I signed from the division below and I was in the division below that the season before, so coming in I didn’t really know what to expect.
“When I signed for Grimsby I was number two for maybe 20 games. I eventually got an opportunity and I’ve just worked so hard and tried to learn from difficult situations.
“I had more than 100 games in a couple of seasons, with a bit of success in there as well and to test myself in League One this season I realised was a real step up for me and it was important that I got my head round it and did everything to sharpen up.
“I remember the first day I came in, thinking how high the quality was. Muzzy (Carayol) was putting me on my backside a few times in training and I realised this was a massive step.
“But one thing you can say when you come from a lower level is that you earn everything you get and there’s no fluke in it.
“I didn’t see this year going as well as it has for me and you just roll with it and try to enjoy every moment.
“It has been a difficult year but it has also been a great year.”
It was not as if Crocombe got off to a good start with Burton. Blackman was clearly seen as number one by then manager Dino Maamria.
“I had a bit of a difficult pre-season too,” said Crocombe. “I thought I played OK but I cost a few goals, made a few mistakes and got sent off away at Belper! I thought maybe it wasn’t meant to be but if you prepare properly and believe in yourself you kind of know that you can come out the other side of it.”
The opportunity came when Blackman was injured 23 minutes into the fourth game of the campaign, away to Shrewsbury Town, which Burton lost 2-1.
“I wasn’t in the team at the start of the season and I just got my head
down, knuckled down and waited for an opportunity,” he said.
“You are never in control of when that comes and, obviously, I got it in difficult circumstances with Jamal coming off injured.
“I did something this year that I never used to do and that was just to get fully kitted up. I made a conscious thing of putting it all on and being ready.
“It’s a tiny detail but it was just that mentality and I wouldn’t say I felt too many nerves when I went on.
“We lost, which was disappointing, but I came off thinking ‘yes, I can do that again.’
“Then we had a game at Wycombe where I was really busy.
“I got the kind of game where you need to show what you can do.
“We drew 0-0 and the clean sheet was a real boost to me.
“Sometimes, you get a bit of luck, you get one of those games where there are a lot of shots on goal and you manage to do enough to keep them out and you just take it from there, really.
“It’s my job and I won’t get ahead
of myself too much, it’s what I’m there to do and what I’m going to keep trying to do.
“I think my game’s improving. I take it really seriously and try to improve in every little facet of my game.
“I feel like I’m on the right path.” Crocombe is also back in favour with his native New Zealand – no trace of the accent remains – but admits he found it hard to accept the call to join them for two friendly internationals in March.
“I thought I needed to put the club first,” he added.
“I was in the National League the first time (he was called up) and had the situation of leaving and losing my spot and I found that really difficult.
“I had that again this season and found it difficult to leave but the gaffer has played internationals and he was brilliant about it.”
That led him on to praise manage Martin Paterson’s part in keeping Burton going during a tough spell. The new manager has faced a lot of criticism from supporters but Crocombe said: “It’s testament to everyone that we’ve kept our heads in these difficult times, the manager especially.
“I have played under a manager in the past that gave up. I felt it at the time.
“But that’s the last thing that’s happened here, so it’s been brilliant to have a proper leader and leaders in the team like the skipper (John Brayford) and Ryan Sweeney, who have kept their heads.
“The gaffer has led from the front and tried to keep that belief and desire.”