Long Stratton F.C. The Interview

Few people split fans opinion like Stephen Lee Blunt...... The 23 year old talismanic midfielder has had his share of critics especially after a torrid last season, where his infamous ability to wind up opposition and ref's alike saw him see red on no fewer than 3 occassions, add to that 9 yellow cards and it meant he spent way too long on the sidelines serving out suspensions as the first team struggled to maintain senior status. This season has seen him turn over a new leaf, now into March and just one yellow card to his name yet nothing has been lost to his game. Blunt said "After last season I made a promise to myself never to repeat that again. I let a lot of people down and I didn't have too many fans towards the end of the season. Something had to change, new managers came in and after talking to Robbo, Danny and Hilts at the start of the season it was clear I had to prove a point to all of them." Prove a point he certainly has, in fact as we go into our final 11 games of a potential history making season, Blunt is arguably our most in-form player...throwing himself about the park against Stalham he came close to winning a 2nd man of the match award in 3 games. "At the moment things are going very well for me and the team. It's long overdue for us to be challenging at the right end of the table, I'm playing with confidence and that's down to a good bunch of lads who helped me through my bad spell, I owe a lot to Robbo, Dan and Hilts, they've all in their own way settled me down after I hit rock bottom last season and I believe they're now getting the best out of me."

With just 11 games left, we sit in 3rd position in what has been a fine season to date..."The squad this year has a great mix between experience and younger players and it seems to be working very well, we have 11 huge games to go starting with Bungay. I certainly think we are good enough to gain promotion but we are taking it one game at a time at the moment". Our current lofty position will taste all the sweeter for Blunt who is one of a number of lads who have been with the club since youth level.."I've been a part of Long Stratton Football Clu since I was 13, and been very lucky to play under and alongside some great people. The first team squad still includes players such as Barty, Lloyd, Mossy and Folky who I've played football with all my life and along with the excellent bunch of lads been brought in by the new managers' it's by far the best squad I've seen here." So in a ten year football career spent entirely in Red, only broken by a short spell at Newton Flotman, prehaps this is the season Blunt has 'come of age' and even his critics will acknowledge that a fit, unsuspended, motivated Blunt could go a long way to helping us to our highest ever finish in Anglian Combination football in our 99th year of club history.