Mike Grogan grateful for AFC Telford chance
AFC Telford United midfielder Mike Grogan today thanked boss Liam Watson for the chance to join the club's Skrill Conference North title-winning team.
Grogan was plucked from two leagues below with Cammell Laird a month after the season began, with the Bucks manager short on midfielders.
Player-coach Alan Moogan's long-term groin injury and a three-match suspension for Russell Benjamin saw Watson take action, bringing in Grogan on non-contract terms.
Fast forward seven months and the 24-year-old has started every game for Telford, netting 15 goals from a defensive midfield position to finish second in the club's top scorer stakes.
He got the party started in the 3-0 win at home to Gainsborough Trinity on Saturday by breaking the deadlock, but insists he owes all his success to Watson.
Grogan said: "This is the first thing I have ever won in semi-professional football. I just want to say thanks to Liam for giving me a chance here.
"He's been great. I have found it difficult with work commitments around training, but I have been available for every game and he's played me.
"For him to do that as a manager in this league, with me being a lad from the divisions below, he's done me a huge favour. I hope I have paid him back by scoring some crucial goals.
"To be in this position now, from where I have come from, I have got to be thankful. I have never been involved in anything like this, it's my best day in football and something I never expected.
"Hopefully, I can stay at Telford. I just want to come back next season."
Grogan's latest strike was presented on a plate to him, after defender Neill Byrne's shot had struck the post and gone across goal.
He's actually Telford's top scorer from open play for the season, as five of striker Adam Farrell's 17 goals have come from the penalty spot.
Grogan said: "Some people might say the goal was lucky, but the lads have been telling me most of mine are like that. I just put it down to instinct!
"I saw it bounce off the post and knocked it in, I would have taken that all day for the first goal! I finished on 15 goals and that will do for me.
"I never thought, in a million years, I would get that many in my first season so I am pinching myself. It's been a great season."
