ALTY’S JOE IS HAVING A BALL!
JOE PIGGOTT wants to keep helping Altrincham’s promotion push after hitting his first hat-trick in senior football – and boss Phil Parkinson made sure he had a memento mark the occasion.
The 20-year-old, on loan from Championship club Wigan Athletic, smashed three of the best in Alty’s 6-0 hammering of Curzon Ashton last weekend.
It kept Alty right in the playoff hunt in their first season back at Step 2 following last season’s bounceback title win under boss Parkinson. And striker Piggott is hungry for more.
“It’s always nice to score a hattrick,” he told The NLP. “As soon as the second one went in I thought straightaway, ‘Let’s get another goal here’. It was nice to see it go in and then to get the match ball at the end. There’s nothing better.
“Although I nearly didn’t get it! Fortunately the gaffer went and got it for me and the boys all signed it – I’m not sure if it cost Alty but they said they’d get it for me. It’s nice to have.
“I’m really enjoying it here. It’s good to get game time and play men’s football, which I feel I need to keep improving.”
Piggott spent time on loan at League Two Morecambe this season but came to Alty in search of more regular game time.
Having started out at Rochdale and Everton, Piggott joined Dundee United in Scotland before returning to England last season to play for Evo-Stik NPL Premier Warrington Town.
That led to a trial with Wigan who offered him a deal in the summer and have been nurturing him in their U23 set-up. But he knows the mix with competitive Non-League football has paid off for many League strikers and that’s why he was so keen to join Alty.
Experience
“I went to Morecambe and didn’t really play that much but it was still a good experience for me,” he said. “I thought my next loan move was one where I really needed to play.
“They’re really helping me out in training and the gaffer is good telling me what he wants me to do during games.
“In the League now you see players where their first few loans have been in Non-League. It’s helped them because it’s more physical and I think it’s helping me.
“It’s a good standard of football and we’re right in the promotion run. It’s good to be a part of when three points means everything on a Saturday.
“Under-23s football is about developing as well as winning games so it’s nice to have both sides. I train at Wigan through the weekend and play in games on Tuesdays, if Altrincham aren’t playing, so I’m getting the best of both worlds.”
And he’s relishing being part of a side pushing for promotion this season.
“We play some nice football as well,” he said. “It’s always nice to be in a team where it’s not just being hit back and forth.
“I can play in a team that does that because I hold the ball up and it’s how I really play. But playing through the thirds and playing nice football is good because you get on the ball more – and hopefully get more goals!”