DERRY’S GOT ROBERTS IN THE GROOVE AT COUNTY

DEADLINE-DAY signing Gareth Roberts admits he was in dire straits at Bury until Notts County boss Shaun Derry came to his rescue.

The left back was made captain at the JD Stadium in the summer – but it did not take long before the situation started to turn sour.

According to the 35-year-old his wages went unpaid amid financial uncertainty at the club and, after playing just twice in three months, he was looking for a way out.

His lifeboat came in the form of Derry’s Notts County and the veteran insists he still has the legs for a League One dogfight after being frozen out of firstteam football.

“I always had the confidence I could play in League One still, and I was glad that the gaffer came in and gave me the opportunity to come back to this level,” said Roberts, who had a seven-year spell at Tranmere before moves to Doncaster and Derby.

“I was training on my own and got the phonecall, there were 16 or 17 games to go at that time and I thought ‘yeah, I’d love that challenge’.

“The main thing was to start enjoying football again as I’d lost a bit of love for it really.

“The situation at Bury was difficult, they weren’t paying me and they weren’t going to play me because of my wages.

“It was getting tough, I spent a lot of time at home and having too many days off, travelling a long time just to go training for a few hours.

“The training facilities were terrible so in the end I was glad to get out of there and to get the opportunity here is fantastic and I want to play my part.

“I’d had a long time off playing but I try to look after myself as best as I can, and I was running on adrenaline for the first game.”