Cameron Out To Win Regular Starts

Coventry City's young defender Nathan Cameron has vowed to win back a regular starting place with the Sky Blues.

Cameron was picked ahead of the likes of Richard Wood and James McPake at the start of the season, but as the two more experienced players regained their fitness they regained their places as Aidy Boothroyd's preferred first choices.

"Having played in the opening four league games at the start of the season I just want to get back and play as many as I can in what is my first year at this level," said the 18 year old defender to the CT, "but I am very grateful for getting my chance which I never expected to come this early, especially ahead of Richard Wood and James McPake who it would obviously have hurt quite a lot to be left out, but both of them have been great professionals and have done nothing but help and encourage me."

"They didn't just turn their heads and let me get on with it like I imagine some players could have done, they made a point of helping me with my game and that gave me a lot of confidence, so I thank them for that. Ben Turner has also been very supportive and he and Woody are playing well at the moment and they kept a clean sheet at Hull at the weekend so it is going to be difficult for me to get back in, but I have just got to keep working hard in training to try to catch the manager's eye."

"My last game was against Millwall when I made a couple of mistakes and I think that was probably the reason along with maybe that the manager didn't want me to play too many games too early in the season."

"I know I still have a long way to go and that's why I don't mind being a boot boy along with the other first year pros. I clean Aron Gunnarsson and Chris Hussey's boots and, along with the other younger lads, share a separate dressing room to the first team."

"We are not allowed to use the senior changing room until we have played ten first team games. It was a rule introduced at the start of the season and I think it is a good way of making us work hard to get into that dressing room by getting games under our belts."

"I want to make sure I work hard, whether that is cleaning boots, helping set out the equipment or collecting drinks and things in at the end of training because it makes you realise that you are still only a young player. I did all right at school where I got ten GCSEs and then went on to college where I studied sports science and got a couple of A-levels."

"Obviously you have got to have something to fall back on because there are a lot of players who make it to the stage where I am and then fall down the leagues and struggle to get back in and have had to rely on their qualifications to get a job."

"I have been at Coventry since I was ten. I am from Birmingham and played for a local junior side until I was scouted by Villa and West Brom before finally joining City's academy."

"I have always been quite big for my age but I haven't always been a defender. When I was playing for my Sunday league team I played in midfield, probably because I was bigger than most of the other lads I came up against, but then I was put back to centre-back and have been there ever since."

"I think size helps you a lot when you are young because you are physically stronger than a lot of boys and it is easier to deal with the game, but it tends to even itself out as you get older."

"The Championship is a very competitive league and big centre-halves are what a lot of managers want, so from that point of view I suppose my size can help me now as well, but the down side is that players like me have to work a bit harder to stay fit."

"I am 14-and-a-half stone and 6ft 1 tall and hopefully still growing at 18, so I have got time to fill out a bit more yet. My dad and uncle are quite big so it runs in the family and I have to do quite a lot of work in the gym just to keep up with the other lads who perhaps don't carry as much weight or muscle."

Cameron Out To Win Regular Starts

Last updated : 07 October 2010 By Covsupport News Service/RD