Huddersfield Town

Joe started his football career at this weekend’s opponents – being part of Birmingham City’s Academy between the ages of eight and 16.

Although he departed St. Andrew’s, several members of his family didn’t and still watch the Blues every week from the stands. 

“I was there for a long while at a young age,” Joe explained. 

“It was strange being an Aston Villa fan as lot of my family members are season ticket holders at Birmingham, but it’s quite a friendly rivalry. They’re always willing me on to play games and do well.

“I’ll happily take some stick if it means scoring a goal this weekend!”

On a more serious note, Joe says that Town needs to banish the memories of its recent bad run and start putting points on the board:

“We’ve got to make sure we bounce back from the last couple of weeks – so it’s about finishing the season as strong as possible and trying to finish in the top twelve.

“It’s frustrating how the Rotherham game went – we wanted to pick up the three points but were unable to do so.

“They were physical, but we knew that would be the case and we just didn’t deal with it well enough.

“We were 12th two weeks ago and these last three games have been hard. We need to stand up and be counted. Naturally you do think about the games that have gone but you’ve got to try and forget them and move on.”

The young playmaker explained that despite the disappointing form of late, the Town camp has been upbeat at PPG Canalside this week:

“The mood in the squad has been good and training has been really sharp this week. We’re ready for Saturday to try and get three points.

“Training has stepped up and it’s good that it has. Hopefully it can pay dividends for Saturday.”

Joe’s inclusion in the starting line-up versus Rotherham was his first start of the season and he admitted it was great to have the fans supporting him:

“It’s always nice to have the fans backing you. It’s a good feeling and I hope I can give them something to cheer in the last ten games of the season. 

“You want to impress the fans and prove that they are right to be excited.”

Speculation was rife in January that Joe may go out on loan to seek First Team football, but the 22 year-old says the Manager made him feel wanted:

“Obviously I wanted to be playing, but I was told by the Manager that he wanted me to stay and that I would get my chance. 

“Sometimes it’s frustrating because you want to be playing games all the time, but then when you realise that a lot of players have left the club and you’re still here you must be wanted. The Manager must believe in me or he would have let me go and I want to repay him.

“I spoke to him before the end of the window and we had a really good discussion. He made it clear that he wanted to keep me round the Club and I was going to get my chance if I was patient.

“Even I could just start half of the games between now and the end of the season that would be good to spend some time in the team and be ready for next season. I would like to become a regular in the team.”