City of Liverpool attacker Jack Hazlehurst has taken positives from their showing in the league despite finishing ninth place in the Northern Premier League West.
Hazlehurst was the standout player for the Purps last season and took home a number of awards during their end of season presentation.
He finished as City of Liverpool’s top goalscorer with 14 but Michael Ellison’s side were consistently rocked by injuries as their squad fell victim to a long list of injuries.
It was a difficult campaign for the Purps who were forced to make Vauxhall Motors’ ground their temporary home, although it didn’t have too much of an impact on performances, they managed to finish inside the top half.
But for City of Liverpool, their season was chalk and cheese on a game-by-game basis as they’d put in performances against the promotion chasers before dropping point to the so called lesser teams.
For Hazlehurst, despite his good showing throughout the course of the season – including a hat-trick against Prescot Cables, he is looking to get back to picking up silverware with the Purps.
He told Off The Park: “When you look back on things, we finished ninth in the end that’s quite respectable because it could’ve been a lot worse. We had a lot of injuries through the season – I’m not one to make excuses and neither is Ello – but when you look at the injuries we’ve had, they weren’t little knocks we’ve had key players out all season.
“Everyone wants to win things, I want to, Ello wants to win things all the other lads do but when you look back ninth wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been.
“We’d put in performances against Rylands or Linnets and then we’d go midweek to a team like Kendal, who are down the league, and we wouldn’t pick three points up or play our normal self. But that could’ve been down to a number of factors like injuries and stuff like that.
“It was tough, next season I think we’ll be a lot stronger, we’ll have fans back at Vesty Road, the players they’re bringing in are big, big signings so it matches my ambitions and hopefully, we can do better things next year and get back to winning things.
“I personally had a good season in front of goal, I look for 15 goals and I was just short of that with one but at the start of the season, I wasn’t right at all. I came back unfit, struggled with an injury on my lung, funnily enough, so it took me a while to get going.
“When I did get going I was pleased with how I was playing, I try and get 15 and help the team as much as I can with the goals. I’m happy with my personal performance but I look back and think I could’ve got 20 this year.
“I got sent off twice this season, so must’ve missed six games through suspension then had a hamstring injury so next season hopefully I can keep myself fit, stay on the pitch then hopefully I can hit 20 – that’s my goal for next season hopefully I can hit that.
“We’re back at Bootle and can have a big go at it. I wouldn’t of signed a contract unless the club matched my ambitions and I want to be back winning things, winning trophies and I want to play as high as possible whether that be at City of Liverpool or not, I want to be up there next season.
“So with the fans back there, more players coming in, we need a solid consistent team that we can build on, last year we was quite disjointed in the end so it was no fault of our own, we just had a freak season. Certainly next season, we’re looking to kick on and do big things.”
*Interview conducted in May.
[Featured image: City of Liverpool]
