Matt Mundy speaks to the Southend star…
Cian Bolger is confident his performance against Hartlepool at the weekend will be the start of a run of games in the Southend United side.
The Irish defender – signed in the summer from Bolton Wanderers – was included in the line-up for the 1-0 win over Pool in place of the suspended Jakub Sokolik.
Suspension and poor performances have seen him endure a stop-start beginning to his career with the Shrimpers.
But he hopes his showing over the North East side will be enough to take full advantage of the defensive crisis to keep his place in the team.
“It’s up to me now to play well,” said the 22-year-old.
“Obviously the manager’s style here is if you play well you stay in the team, so it’s up to me now to stay in the team.
“It’s pleasing to get back in the team because it’s been a bit frustrating the last couple of weeks, but I just kept my head down. I came in and played a few games and then got out of the team, but that’s football. You’ve just got to keep working hard and hopefully I’ll stay in the team for a bit longer.”
Bolger was sent off for two early yellow cards against Plymouth Argyle at the end of August leaving his team-mates to play for 75 minutes with 10 men. He then had a bad day against Luton when he was subbed at halftime, and both games ended in a 2-0 defeat.
But Bolger has learnt from that and says he is out to prove a point by building on the performance against Hartlepool.
“Obviously with the mistakes I made, getting sent off and then what happened at Luton, I feel like I’ve got to show everyone what I can do.
“I had a point to prove a little bit, but hopefully I’ve done that today.”
The victory came courtesy of David Worrall’s solo effort gifting the Shrimpers a narrow but merited win, which keeps them in the promotion hunt.
And Bolger is hopeful it can be the start of a positive period after suffering the FA Cup embarrassment the week before losing to Conference club Chester FC.
“People around the place are starting to panic but as a group we’re all focused on one thing and that’s promotion.
“We’re in the play-offs and there’s loads of games left. We’re where we want to be at the minute.”