ALLARAKHIA | "Pre-season will be key for us"
An exciting season for Wealdstone fans saw the team pushing for the illustrious play-off spots for a good portion of the campaign. The young and exciting squad showed promising signs throughout the season, but a patchy run of form toward the end of the season saw the Stones unfortunately miss out on a potential play-off fixture.
Tarryn Allarakhia missed a lot of the back end of the season which saw the Stones ultimately drop to a creditable 13th place, he spoke with Tim Parks after pre-season training.
“I got an injury on my hamstring towards the end of the season which is a bit of a pain,” said Tarryn. “It’s annoying because we felt we could’ve snuck into the play-offs. The first time I did the left side (hamstring), it got better and then a couple of months later I did the right side. I think it was just fatigue. It was my first time playing a full season and it was my body telling me that I’d pushed it a bit far.”
A successful summer so far has seen the Stones hold on to 17 of last season’s first-team squad as Stuart Maynard and his management team look to implement their style of football on the National League once again.
“We kept the majority of our squad from last year, everyone knows each other. We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses so we can help each other out throughout the season. I’ve got one more year on my contract so I’m very happy and excited for this year!”
Tarryn joined the Stones last summer from Woking and has impressed under Maynard, playing on the left of a front-three. The explosive forward scored five goals in 39 appearances for the Stones and injury troubles aside, the 25-year-old will hope to improve on his already impressive performances next season with a full campaign now under his belt.
“The coaching staff are onto me this year (about taking more shots in games) but it’s a good thing, if I can get more shots off then hopefully, I can score more goals. I appreciate the management staff, they’ve put their faith in me and hopefully I can repay them. Pre-season is going to be key for all of us, we know how the management team want us to play so we just have to make sure we are fit and ready for the season.”
If you want to see Tarryn and the rest of the team in action, the Stones begin their pre-season with a local trip to Rayners Lane at 3pm on Saturday 8th July.