LONDON, CMC—Veteran Reggae Boy Garath McCleary said he had no intentions of slowing down after scoring a brace last weekend in Wycombe Wanderers’ 3-1 thrashing of Carlisle in English League One.
At 36, the forward is in the twilight of his professional career but has scored four of his six goals since the start of the year to help Wycombe into 11th spot in the league, with only two games remaining in the campaign.
“I don’t know. I feel like I can keep going,” said McCleary, who was part of the Jamaica squad, which reached the final of the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
“I’m feeling perfect – the gaffer (Matt Bloomfield) has also given me the platform to perform.
“Certain days, if I need a bit of a rest, he’s given me, but I think I’ve missed two games this season. I don’t know what it is, but it may continue.”
McCleary took the plaudits on Saturday, first tapping in from the goal mouth in the 15th minute to give the visitors a 1-0 lead and then producing a bullet header in the 75th minute to secure the points.
In between, Alfie McCalmont leveled for Carlisle in the 28th before Richard Kone put Wycombe ahead again in the 49th.
McCleary said scoring the goals at Brunton Park had particular sentimental value.
“I think it’s going back 17 years now. I got my first professional goal for (Nottingham) Forest against Carlisle, so it brings back many memories,” said McCleary, who made over a hundred appearances in four seasons at City Ground.
“[I stayed] on the keeper [for the first goal], and thankfully, it bobbled down to me … luckily I was there to prod it in.
“[For the second goal], it’s a great ball by Luke (Leahy). I made my mind up to make sure I was around the back post, and thankfully, it came to me. Luckily, I got my head on it first.”
He added, “I think all of us were a bit sloppy in the first half. Obviously going one-nil up, there were a few misplaced passes—myself included—but in the second half, we came and showed a lot of professionalism.
“The gaffer gave us a bit of a talking to at half-time, which we needed, but we came out in the second half, and I think we’ve done well.”
Wycombe has been in great form, winning in their last three outings. They take on Cambridge on Tuesday before wrapping up their season against Charlton at home at Adams Park.
McCleary said they were hoping to win both games and end up in the top 10 in the league.
“I think it is the third win in a week we’ve had – we’ve had three games in a week – so it’s been fantastic,” he said.
“We’ve got another one coming up against Cambridge on Tuesday.
“We’ve set a target. We want to get back into the top 10, so hopefully, we can win that and see it off in style against Charlton at home.”
and then 