Daniel Udoh hopes landmark can inspire Shrewsbury Town youths
Shrewsbury favourite Daniel Udoh hopes a landmark appearance for the club can help inspire the next generation.
Udoh, 25, has made 96 appearances for Town and is the latest to close in on a ton of outings for the club he joined in 2019.
He would follow skipper Ethan Ebanks-Landell, who recently clocked up a century, and last season Ollie Norburn in hitting the figure, as the latest to have their name painted on to the '100 club' wall at Town's Sundorne Castle training base.
Udoh joined Town from neighbours AFC Telford United of National League North, and prior to that spent time down at step three of the non-league game. The Nigeria-born frontman is a big favourite of boss Steve Cotterill, who gave him a new deal in the summer, and his team-mates.
Udoh admits the prospect of playing 100 games at a league club just a couple of years ago was scarcely believable. He said: "If you'd have told me I'd play in League One when I was at Ilkeston I'd have say 'no'.
"If you'd have told me I'd have 100 games for a league club I'd have said 'no' as well.
"It will be a big achievement for myself, I just have to keep pushing on and hopefully get more and more."
After ending a stint at Kidderminster in 2015, Udoh won a move to Ilkeston via a trial and eye-catching displays there caught the attention of League Two Crewe, where he made the switch but was unable to force regular league football, as several non-league loans followed, before a move to the Bucks.
"Definitely it means a lot, it just goes to show you can achieve whatever you want to achieve," added Udoh, who delivered fish and chips while turning out for Telford.
"Some of the younger boys will see my career, see that I've gone up, down, up, down but you just have to keep believing in yourself and pushing forward.
"At that time I was playing football (for Ilkeston) and just enjoying it as a young kid hoping to make it into the league, whatever level.
"If you told me I'd be in League One now back then I'd be like 'yeah right'.
"I wouldn't have thought I'd get to this level but you need to keep believing in yourself no matter what anyone says, it's just their opinion, you just need to keep chipping away."
