Friday 5 September 2014 15:52, UK
Matt Tubbs has exploded out of the blocks during a loan spell at AFC Wimbledon and landed the Sky Bet League Two Player of the Month award for August.
Four goals in five fourth tier outings saw him pip Cheltenham Town goalkeeper Trevor Carson, Wycombe Wanderers midfielder Peter Murphy and Morecambe striker Kevin Ellison to the top prize.
Neal Ardley knew what he was getting when negotiating a season-long agreement with Bournemouth, with Tubbs having proven himself at this level in the past with Crawley Town.
The 30-year-old is delighted to be back doing what he does best, but says there will be no resting on his laurels as he looks to build on a promising opening to the 2014/15 campaign.
Tubbs told Sky Sports: “I’m very happy to get the Player of the Month award. I’m happy with my performances, just on a personal note I could have scored a couple more goals to add to my tally. I have had some good chances, but I have played quite well and I’ll take five in six at the minute.
“I’m one of those strikers where I’m not too disappointed if I miss a chance, I’m more disappointed if I don’t get any chances because then I know I’m not getting in the right positions to score more goals. As a striker you are judged by goalscoring.
“I’m a confident lad and I feel that if you give me an opportunity, I’ll try and take it. Like I say, if I miss a chance I won’t get my head down about it because I know that, with the players in this team, I’ll get another chance straight away.”
Tubbs admits to having had ‘a few options’ to consider over the summer, but believes he made the right decision in joining an ambitious project at Kingsmeadow.
He added: “When I spoke to (Bournemouth boss) Eddie Howe in the summer, he said that I could stay if I wanted to but that, obviously, the writing was pretty much on the wall that I wasn’t going to get the game time, maybe not even be on the bench.
Positive
“I’m at a stage of my career now, I’m 30, where I want to play football. When I met with Neal Ardley, he spoke very positively and about the players that he wanted to bring in, and has brought in. It has paid off and is going really well at the moment.
“I had a couple of meetings with Neal and he spoke very highly of the club. He told me about the ambition and he was a big factor in me signing here. As a player as well, he played at the top level and it’s just working really well at the moment. I just want that to continue.”
Tubbs has set an early benchmark in terms of performance level but says he is not working towards any specific pre-season targets - merely to be the best he can be and to help Wimbledon push for a top-seven finish.
He said: “I’m not one to set targets. I’ve never set myself a target saying ‘I’ve got to hit 20 goals in a season’, because I feel that if I was to set that and I didn’t achieve that, then I’ve failed at the end of the season. My target is just to stay injury-free and with the players we’ve got in this team, they’ll create chances for me to put the ball away.”
On the collective goal of challenging for a play-off place at the very least, he added: “I don’t think there is anyone in the dressing room or anyone in and around Wimbledon that doesn’t think that.
“If we don’t think we can be in the top seven, we might as well not even be in this division and not compete at all. It’s a competitive league and everyone is striving for the same thing, which is promotion. I think, with the squad Neal’s put together, there’s no reason why we can’t achieve that.”
Matt Tubbs was talking to Sky Sports on behalf of Sky Bet, the Title Sponsor of The Football League.
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