Maclaren is looking for double

Ray Sportz Web Desk: 11 goals and two assists in 22 matches in the current ISL. Such statistics are enviable for any footballer. Jamie McLaren is already the owner of 11 goals in the Mohun Bagan jersey after stepping foot in India. The Bagan crowd keeps an eye on this Aussie star in important matches. In an interview given to Ray Sportz before stepping foot in the knockouts, Jamie McLaren talked about his goals.

Q: What about the pressure of expectations? How do you deal with the pressure?

Jemmie: Nothing new from when I was a young kid. You wanted to play in big clubs, big crowds, big leagues and I never felt any sort of pressure. Like I said in previous interviews, the minute I landed, the support I had straight away, I knew that they were going to support me. So when you have the love and the support and the care of good people, you just want to give everything. And I think it was a little sad that I got injured straight away, but I did everything possible, flew to Mumbai, flew to Australia to get myself right, my neck a few procedures and found myself fit. And once I was fit, I was ready to go and just had to earn the trust of the coach. Okay, in this season.

Q: You have scored 11 goals for Mohunbagan, & last year the number was the same. But which one is the best for you?

Jemmie: This season, because obviously more goals, more trophies. So yeah, without a shadow of a doubt, it’s definitely this season. So I want to build on this. I think last year I played 28 games, played with a few injuries, and a couple of broken toes. So this season, other than missing pre-season, I’ve been pretty good with the body and really happy. And we’ve got four games to go in this season in terms of winning another trophy. So the full confidence is there, we’re going to have a little break. And I’m used to these one-off games, I’m used to the semifinals. We have that in Australia with two legs and then you play in a playoff grand final. So I’m really keen to get underway, but there’s obviously a big game in front of our crowd lifting the shield. Okay, you are playing with so many young players here in this team.

Q: What do you think of the young footballers in India? Perhaps, you can play the role of a mentor?

Jemmie: Yeah, really good. When I first signed in the first couple of weeks when I was training, there were a lot more younger faces and yeah, they have to earn the trust of the coach. They have to earn the respect of the players, the older players. But they’re holding their own. And I think the ones that have got their opportunity this year have really taken it. And we’re learning from them, they’re learning off us. Like I said, it’s really a together unit. You don’t win trophies with 11 players, you win with 24, 25 and we’re lucky to have that. I’ve had a few injuries this year and the ones that have stepped in have really held their own. And that just shows that they’re hungry for success as well. But one thing is, every game you can’t take for granted. Every minute you get, don’t take those for granted because the coach has shown that he wants to trust everybody and this season is no different.

Q: You have come to India with lots of expectations in your mind. Do you think it has been fulfilled?

Jemmie: Not yet because I obviously had the mind of winning the Shield and winning the playoff trophy. So to do the double is definitely the highest goal that I set. And unfortunately, circumstances were taken out of our hands with the Asian Champions League. I played in that tournament before, and scored goals in Asian tournaments. But to be taken away this year, we never got a chance to play. So we’ve done that, we’ve qualified for next season. We look forward to showing how powerful we can be in Asia because when I looked at the group and I looked at the games, I really think we could have had an imprint in this year’s Asian Champions League. But it wasn’t my fault for anyone at the club. It was taken out of our hands and we just had to focus on getting the Shield and getting qualified again for Asia. So in my mind, we’re halfway there to what I wanted to do and we’ve still got another trophy at hand. Thank you.