Moment of magic – on my last legs
JOROME Slew admits he was cramping up in the moments before his wonder goal which made FA Cup history for Maldon & Tiptree.
The Isthmian North club had taken a shock lead through Danny Parish in their first round tie at Leyton Orient, who sat four leagues and 78 places above them in the football pyramid.
And when Slew picked the ball up on the edge of his own penalty area in the 65th minute, things were about to get even better for the Jammers.
“Before I got the ball I was so tired, I was even cramping up a bit!” Slew told The NLP. “I started running and the energy came to me. When Danny scored I thought, ‘Right, I’m scoring as well’. I knew it was going to come at some point. The rest is history.”
The 22-year-old striker, once on the books of Sheffield United and whose cousin is Everton forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin, set off on an extraordinary solo run, leaving desperate
Orient defenders in his wake before curling a shot past Sam Sargeant.
“I’ve watched it potentially twice a day since it happened,” said Slew, who has been spending his time in lockdown reading books and teaching himself Spanish, of his Huck Nets Goal of the Year. “I’ve scored quite a few bangers this season but because of the occasion and the run itself, I’d say it is the most effective, if not memorable goal I’ve scored.
“We stayed in a hotel the night before, I remember getting up for breakfast and it was a bit surreal, getting ready to play a League Two team. I felt so good in the warm-up, it wasn’t nerves it was more excitement.”
It proved to be the crucial goal, after Orient pulled one back, and set up a televised second round tie at home to Newport County, where an injury-time winner from Padraig Amond ended Maldon’s epic run.
Attention
“We were massively unfortunate to lose against Newport,” said Slew. “The cup run opened a platform for the team and for me. I watched the Newport came back and they were highlighting me on BBC! It was nice to be recognised, I was just Jorome who played at Maldon but then I was being talked about on TV. It was crazy.”
Slew has deservedly attracted plenty of attention for his dream season which saw him score 33 goals in as many games.
It helped Maldon to be 14 points clear when the campaign was cancelled and he believes he should have bagged more.
“We had 12 games to go and I was aiming for 45 goals,” Slew added. “To be honest it should have been more because I didn’t play the first five games and I had a seven-game spell when I just couldn’t score.
“It was probably the best time and best season I’ve enjoyed since I’ve been playing football. The main thing for me is to continue my development. As long as I go somewhere where I’ll play and make progress then I’m happy.”