Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Clarke backs Goodwin to kick on
DARRELL Clarke believes that Cheltenham Town forward Will Goodwin has all the attributes to play at a higher level, writes Jon Palmer.
The 21-year-old has impressed the Robins boss over the past two months, scoring twice at Blackpool and causing defenders problems with his height and strength.
“Goody has been a pleasure to work with since I’ve been in the building,” Clarke said. “He has a lot of attributes that are very good and we want to kick him on. He is only going to get better and better the more minutes he plays.
“He has that physical presence and attributes that could play at a higher level. He needs consistency of games and performances.
“He should be thinking ‘number nines are few and far between’ and if he can produce a consistent level of performance, the world is his oyster.”
Goodwin joined Cheltenham for an undisclosed free from Stoke City in January after spending time on loan with Torquay United in the National League.
He scored on his Cheltenham debut in an EFL Trophy win over Salford City, but he had to wait until this season to open his EFL account.
“Goody has been at Stoke and got lost in the system, becoming a 21s player and not getting first team opportunities there, but he’s now looking to bounce back in his career and he will do that by performing week-in, week-out,” Clarke added.
Cheltenham return to action after a two-week break with a home match against Oxford this afternoon. Since drawing 1-1 at home to Wigan in their last League
One match, they have taken on a strong Wolves XI in a training ground friendly, with Tom Bradbury netting the Robins’ goal in a 3-1 defeat.
“It’s been a pleasing couple of weeks,” Clarke said. “Sharpness is obviously the key, but we looked at a couple of things, trying a different formation and some different things we might do going forward. It was a really positive first-half performance in that game, with boys getting minutes under their belts.”