Gary Roberts: Motivation is no problem

Oct 7 2008 by Dougie Thomson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

GARY ROBERTS heads to Darlington for tonight’s Johnstone’s Paint Trophy tie insisting motivation won’t be a problem for Town.

With the credit crunch biting particularly hard in the North-East and the average League II crowd running at 2,896, spectators are likely to be rattling around the 25,000-capacity Darlington Arena, where the second-round clash kicks off at 7.45.

But Roberts, whose team will be backed by at least 200 fans, says the incentive of taking a step closer to playing in front of a far bigger crowd in the Wembley final means he and his teammates will be fully focused on the task at hand.

“Ask any Englishman where he’d most like to play football, and Wembley will probably be the answer,” said the 24-year-old, who scored his fourth goal for the club in Saturday’s 3-2 home defeat by League II leaders Leicester City.

“There’s a long way to go yet, and Darlington will have the same idea about getting to the final as us, but this is a match we badly want to win.