Forest Green’s Tom Knowles has spoken warmly of his former club Yeovil Town ahead of tonight’s National League showdown in Somerset.
Knowles, who scored 16 goals in 76 appearances for the Glovers, credited the club with giving him the foundation to build his professional career.
Knowles said: “I had a great couple of years there. They took a punt on me when I was younger and they gave me a a foundation to build my career on and for that I’m extremely thankful for them, the fans, there’s great people at the club. But I’m at Forest Green now and I’ll be doing everything I can to beat them.”
The only place to listen to the full pre-match press conference with Forest Green’s Tom Knowles
Knowles thinks Rovers, who are second in the National League table, can put a marker down over the festive period: “This is the time of year where the table starts to separate and you can see who’s sort of going to be where come the end of the season. So we’ve got to make sure we’re focused on us. We take game-by-game, aim to get as many points as possible.”
Knowles admitted the social media banter will be in full flow after the game with his former team mates: “Morgan Williams, centre half, is probably one of my best mates in football. Obviously, Macca and Jed (Ward) were here last year. So it’s, familiar faces, but when I cross that white line, I’ll do everything I can to beat them. Hopefully I can get one up on them. But all fun and games and when the game kicks off, there’s only one focus and that’s winning the game.”
Manager Robbie Savage insists every day is like Christmas being a professional footballer and Knowles’ mind is firmly on football: “You’ve got to focus on football and less about Christmas because our job at the end of the day is to play football, it’s not to have Christmas time. So we’ll be working hard, treating it like every other day. It’s a dream to be a professional footballer. here’ll be kids up and down the country opening football shirts and we’re lucky enough to have our name on the back of them. So it’s really exciting.”
