Fan favourite Luke O’Nien is loving his football at the minute and took to his recent new role at full back very well. A position which the 24 year old is more than happy to fill. “It’s Really enjoyable. With the likes of Goochy in front of me, Flans and Jack all the defenders they make me look very good. It’s easy playing with Goochy in front of me, I just give him the ball and he works his magic and I try to support him to the best of my abilities. I just want to be on the pitch. If the manager wants me to play right-back I will keep playing there, I’m loving it. If he puts me back into midfield I will give my all and perform to the best I can, if he needs me anywhere on the pitch I'm more than happy to put in a good performance."
Luke found himself in his new position after telling a few porkies to assistant John Potter, when asked if he’d played there before: “I told Potts the assistant yes so if he asks yes. But I can’t remember I don’t think I have. Yes, was the right answer when he asked me but it’s just about game understanding, positional awareness from playing in midfield.”
O’Nien had a bit of a slow start to his SAFC career and had to wait until last month for his first league start: “Transition takes time. For some people it takes them not as long, others it takes longer. Some people don’t settle at all. It took me a little while to settle, the day I set foot in this club I made sure I worked hard everyday but that still does not guarantee results. It puts you in the best position to get results but it’s only now it’s coming together nicely and I’m going to do my best to continue.”
The former Wycombe man reckons the squad at Sunderland is top class but he still keeps an eye on results at his old club, who currently sit 13th in League One. “With the squad we’ve got, we’ve got Geeds who was playing Champions League, Catts who’s had numerous games in the Prem. We didn’t have that at Wycombe. We had some very good players I’ll tell you that, but equally here we’ve got some unbelievable players and it’s great to be playing alongside these people because they only improve your game. Listen I love the squad at Wycombe and the squad here is the same, I had a really good relationship with everyone at Wycombe. I always check the results at Wycombe, I made some really good friends there and the boys here are fantastic as well. I’ve got a really good relationship with a lot of the team and hopefully we can continue working together and nail down that first spot in the league.”
Checkatrade Date Finally Confirmed
In other news, after what seemed like an age, we’ve finally been given a date on the next round of the Checkatrade Trophy. We face Man City Under 21s next Tuesday (22nd Jan) with the match kicking off at 7:45pm. You can buy tickets now, priced at a very reasonable £5 for adults and £1 for kids. Click here for more info and tickets
Transfer Tittle-Tattle
Meanwhile it’s being reported that Josh Maja is a target for Scottish Premier League side Celtic. The Bhoys are interested in a swap deal for the forward, who’s notched 15 goals so far this season. Brendan Rodger’s side are willing to let either Lewis Morgan or Jack Hendry make the move south of the border in an attempt to secure the services of 20 year old Maja.
In other transfer news it looks like we’ve missed out on the signature of Aberdeen captain Graeme Shinnie after the Scot looks set to join Championship Wigan. The 27 year old, who operates as a holding midfielder, has made over 120 appearances for the Dons and is out of contract at the end of this season.
