Wolves striker signs for Barwell
FORMER Wolves striker Sylvan EbanksBlake has expressed his delight at signing for local side Barwell, writes Luke Pawley.
The 32-year-old made his full debut in a 2-1 victory against Banbury United on Tuesday last week after the announcement of his arrival caused quite a storm on Twitter.
Having found a regular place in the starting XI at Halesowen Town hard to come by, the former Premier League striker made the switch to Barwell at the beginning of last week.
Speaking to the club website after the match, Ebanks-Blake said: “I’m delighted to sign for the club. I spoke to the manager yesterday and he convinced me to come down. He knows a couple of good friends of mine and he just said ‘come in and play’ so I made the decision to come and play tonight, and we got a good result.”
Despite having been rushed into his first game in a yellow shirt, EbanksBlake was impressed with his fellow teammates on his first outing at the UK Flooring Direct Stadium.
“We’ve got lads here who can handle the football, get the ball on the floor and play the right way. We’ve come from behind today and showed real character. I know there’s a lot of injuries, that’s what I was told when I came through the door, but we’ve got some good players and some good squad depth there.
“We deserved to win the game, we had a lot of chances. Especially in the second half, we were the better team.”
Ebanks-Blake started up front alongside former Derby County youngster Jahvan Davidson-Miller, often dropping deep to pick the ball up and bring his fellow attacking players into play.
“As I’ve got a bit older, and with injuries and stuff like that, I’ve had to change my game up,” he explained. “The gaffer here wanted me to come in and hold the ball up. We’ve got Jahv (Davidson-Miller) whose quick and gets in behind. I’ve got to adjust my game from what it used to be, but I’ll still get in the box and get my fair share of goals.”
Ebanks-Blake carries a wealth of experience, including over 193 appearances for Wolves, with 76 of those coming in the Premier League. In time, the striker hopes he can pass little bits of experience on to the club’s talented youngsters.
“I try to lead by example and the little bits of experience I can pass on, I will. I’m only just through the door at the minute so it’ll take a little bit of time, but I’ll try to pass on as much experience as I can because young lads should be aiming to play as high as they can.”
On what he wants to achieve this season, he added: “I don’t set personal targets [in terms of goals]. I just want to stay fit, if I’m selected then I want to play a lot of games this season and I believe that the return will be good.”