Ryan Andrews spoke to watfordfc.com following a special 2-0 victory against Birmingham City at The Vic where the Watford-born full-back scored his first ever professional goal.
With Mileta Rajović having set the Golden Boys on their way to an important win with a 91st-minute strike, Andrews added gloss to the scoreline, wheeling away to celebrate with the supporters after scoring for his boyhood club.
Read Andrews’ thoughts below…
In the first few games this season I’ve had a lot of chances in that same position, so I knew as soon as I got the ball I wanted to put my foot through it. In the other games I’ve been thinking about it too much, but even though it got a deflection it still went into the back of the net. That’s all that mattered to me. It’s a surreal feeling and I can’t even put it into words.
I just celebrated. The celebration was even better because it was so late on in the game. Coming through the Academy and starting at the Under-9s, it’s everyone’s dream to play professionally so to get my first professional goal is a bonus.
I wouldn’t have imagined this. When I was younger, growing up and coming through the Academy there were times when I thought I might get released, but I was kept on. Coming through and making my debut against Reading was a surreal feeling, then it was just about keeping it up.
In the recent games, you can see that I have tried a lot of underlapping runs and I’ve made the run off the back and the manager just asked me to keep that up. When I got on the pitch, it was about doing that as much as I could. When they got a man sent off, it gave us the indication that we needed to squeeze them and get the ball in the final third.
Everyone has been really important in this journey. Of course, my family - my mum has been there through everything and my dad on the football side as well. My two sisters and everyone else have been really supportive. My family is a huge inspiration for me and it gives me the boost to play how I play.
Last season with the Under-21s I had Omer Riza and Richard Shaw as my coaches and they always had belief in me. If I kept putting in the work, then I knew I would get this opportunity. I have to also thank Valérien [Ismaël], the manager, and all the backroom staff for giving me the chance to play.
Getting that goal – I don’t really know how to explain it right now. There’s a lot of emotions running through my head.
