COHEN GUNS FOR GLORY AT THE U’S
COHEN Bramall’s story has never followed a conventional path, but finally the full-back might just be settled.
After being catapulted from Non-League Hednesford Town to the back pages when he was picked up by Arsenal in 2017, the now 23-year-old parted ways with the Gunners this summer after struggling to break into the first team.
But this season it has been a different story. Quickly picked up by Colchester, Bramall has established himself as John McGreal’s first-choice left-back, getting a taste of regular professional football for the first time in his young career.
Journey
And now the journey really starts for Bramall. Given a taste of the top, he is desperate to work his way back there once again - one step at a time.
“The priority is getting game-time and experience,” he said. “If I was two or three years younger, I might have gone to a big team and been second choice, but I’m 23 and I thought it’s time for me to get experience, get games and show what I’m about.
“I’ve always had hunger, but now I’ve got more than ever. I’ve been at the lows, gone to the highs and have taken a step back, but I’m more hungry than ever to go and play and carry on doing well in my career.”
He is convinced that he can enhance his CV at Colchester, who headed into the weekend in eighth place in League Two but just five points off top spot.
“We can get promotion, no doubt about it,” he said. “We should win the league, in my opinion - the team we’ve got, the people, the whole family have got too much for teams.
“I think once we nail it – right now we’re starting to get it – we’re going to be a problem and I think that a few people can agree with me on that.”
Bramall has quickly made himself at home at Colchester, with eight appearances – including a shock win over Tottenham in the Carabao Cup – under his belt prior to yesterday’s trip to Crawley.
Difficult
It is a far-cry from his U23 days at Arsenal – an experience that Bramall nevertheless reflects upon with great fondness – and his unsuccessful loan spell at Birmingham in 2017-18 that saw him starved of match action.
“None of it’s a regret, everything at Arsenal was great – I loved every moment. The only thing that I do regret is the move to Birmingham, that’s it,” he said. “My money went up a bit (at Arsenal) and I got advised to stay and should have listened to the coaches. “But I was desperate because I thought I could go in and play for Birmingham, could go and make a statement, but that wasn’t the case.
“I played a couple of games and then got taken out of the team, that’s the first time that’s ever happened to me.
“It was me trying to get to grips with not being in the squad and staying mentally focused. Every club that I’ve been to, Non-League, U23s, I’ve always played, so experience of not playing hurts.
“I was upset, because I didn’t know how to react at the time. I think I was fine at the level, I just didn’t get the opportunity.”