Goodwillie Aiming For Consistency

Club captain David Goodwillie spoke to the official website this week and reflected on the opening quarter of the cinch League 1 campaign:-

“I think it’s pretty obvious we’ve been a bit hot and cold so far and we just need to find that level of consistency, where hopefully we can win a couple of games in a row. All the boys and the manager are feeling it; we can get a great result one week then the next minute we’re really flat so we just need to get some consistency in our game and that will be our goal in the next part of the season.”

The striker has had an excellent individual start to the season, having currently chalked up 11 goals in just 12 appearances.

“On a personal note it’s great to get among the goals but even if you are scoring goals and not getting results I still feel a little down. If I wasn’t scoring but we were still winning I’d actually be very happy with that! I like to be in amongst the goals but hopefully we can start turning those goals into wins on a Saturday.”

There has been several new additions to the squad over the summer, with a number of strike partners for Goodwillie:-

“The new boys have fitted in nicely and the dressing room is full of great guys, we just need to gel on the park a bit more to get those results we are looking for. Quite a lot of them at this level know each other well having played against each other in the past.

“We’re mixing up a few different potions to see which one works! I think Rob Jones and myself complement each other well; he’s the big guy and I’m the wee guy. And then you’ve got Gregory Tade too, he’s came on twice and changed the games against Queen’s Park and East Fife. He’s a big strong lad and puts himself about, you can see defenders never get a minute’s peace and he works really hard for the team, likewise with Jonesy. I like playing beside a big guy, hopefully he’ll take a few hits for me and I’ll be able to feed off him!”

Goodwillie is now in his third season of being the club captain:-

“I take pride in being captain and try to lead by example on the park so the boys will follow. If you ask any of them they’ll probably tell you I’m not captain material because I’m always having a laugh and joke but when Saturday comes and the whistle goes I’m serious.”

The forward recently became just the eighth player in history to reach a century of goals for the club, and is almost halfway to Dougie Wallace’s all-time record of 209.

“It wasn’t something I had thought about when I first started with Clyde but the goals have kept flowing. I didn’t have a clue I was close to 100 until a few games before after someone told me I was on 96. That made quite hungry to get to the landmark and I got there quicker than I thought. Unfortunately the two goals at Peterhead meant nothing as we lost, and I probably should have scored another!”

“My favourite goal for the club was probably the second one against Alloa Athletic. I felt like I was going nowhere in the last minute and I just tried something, thinking it might not work and there’s just seconds to go but it’s came off and we got the win. The opener against Queen’s Park recently was good as well and my third against Stranraer in the 6-1 game is also up there…there’s been a few good ones to be honest!”

The skipper bounced back from an uncharacteristic mistake from the spot against Queen’s Park by slotting home a penalty against Airdrie last week:-

“I got a bit of stick about that one! I’ve tried to be a bit too clever and caught the ball too much. I saw the goalkeeper go the other way and tried to tap it in but put too much power behind it. I’d never shy away from taking a penalty and just made sure I’d put the next one away, which I did against Airdrie. You’re not going to score them all so it’s just having the confidence to step up again and take that responsibility.”

The striker is also pleased to have fans back inside stadiums after being shut out last season:-

“It’s great to have the fans back, it feels like there is more of them here now and they make a great noise for us, which will hopefully continue. But we need to help with that ourselves and try and get good results so we can entice even more people out of the house to come along and watch us.”

Monday will mark ten years to the day since Goodwillie scored for Scotland against a star studded Spanish side, who were the reigning European and World champions:-

“I probably took my career a bit for granted at that point. I didn’t really think too much about it at the time and assumed it was just a normal thing for me. I always thought in my mind there would be more but unfortunately for me there wasn’t, but when I look back now I can always tell my kids and grandkids I scored against the European and World Champions. And they’ll probably turn round and say “Calm down, it was only a penalty!””