Earlier today we confirmed the signing of Jake Hyde and the striker told us he's already enjoying life at Stevenage.
“I’ve been in with the boys for just over a week now, they’ve made me feel very welcome and there’s a fantastic atmosphere around the place. As soon as I met the manager and staff here I knew my decision was made. I’m really excited to get going.”
Jake will probably be best known among Boro fans for his goalscoring exploits at nearby Barnet, where he scored 32 goals over two spells and he’s hoping for a similarly prolific impact here at The Lamex Stadium.
“I’d like to think, as most strikers do, that I’m a goalscorer. I always work as hard as I possibly can for the football club. I prefer the ball in the box, it’s where I want to be scoring goals. I like to play football but I’m hungry to score goals and win football matches.
“I know this league inside out now and any team can go on a run, but it’s who does it for the longest period that counts. It’s about winning games and fingers crossed I can help Stevenage do that this season."
At 26, Jake becomes our oldest and most experienced striker currently on the books, certainly in terms of Football League games and he’s looking forward to working with his fellow forwards.
“Fingers crossed my knowledge of the league will help us. It’s good to have a mix of strikers with different abilities. I don’t think I’ve ever been called the ‘experienced’ striker before, so cheers for that, but as I say it gives us options and it gives the manager a problem!
“Last season was the toughest I’ve had in my career but that’s behind me now, I’m hungry to kick on and get back to where I was. I still want to learn, I still want to become a better player. I feel really good now and looking forward to a good start at Stevenage.”
As well at expressing his delight at moving back down south to be closer to family, Jake said the impressive Bragbury End and The Lamex Stadium were big plus points to his move.
“The training ground here is a fantastic facility and that’s massive because the training ground is where you put your work into practice, you’re there a lot of the time. Similarly I’ve played at The Lamex Stadium a couple of times before and remember it’s a tough place to come. We’ll try and keep that reputation going and keep it a difficult place for teams to visit.
“I want to score goals, I want to win football matches and I want to see how far we can go at Stevenage. I haven’t been in the door long but I can see from the manager, coaching staff and the boys that there’s a definite togetherness, some really good players and a good understanding.”