Joel Cooper programme article
Posted : 14th October 2022
Ahead of tonight’s derby clash with Glentoran, ‘Look at Linfield’ catches up with winger Joel Cooper who returned to the Club on a three-year contract in June.
Having had two successful seasons with Linfield between 2018-2020, Joel’s impressive form earned him a move to EFL League One side Oxford United, from whom he returned to Windsor Park on loan for the second half of the 2020-21 season. Now back for a third Linfield spell, the Ballyclare native believes it was a beneficial experience plying his trade in England, even if things didn’t work out quite the way he’d have liked.
“I am pleased to be back and I am enjoying it. I’ve been here before and I knew what it would entail. It’s maybe slightly different to my previous two spells in the sense that it’s now a Full-Time environment but I have settled in quite well. I’ve won trophies here before and I enjoy playing for the manager. You can’t turn down Linfield.
“My time in England just didn’t work out for me for a number of different reasons and it was the right decision to come home. I’ve learnt a lot about myself, on and off the pitch through the challenges I faced throughout those two years. I think that stands me in good stead, having the experience of being there, even though it didn’t work out. Now I just want to try and help Linfield.”
The left winger – who initially arrived from Glenavon in 2018 - says he is enjoying linking up with fellow summer signing Robbie McDaid and he’s backing the forward who signed from Glentoran to score big and important goals for the Blues this season.
“I’m enjoying playing with Robbie McDaid. He does a lot of hard graft that people don’t see and as a winger in this team, he really helps me with his running and a lot of headers he wins which he has no right to win. He shows a lot of good centre forward play and he’s been on the scoresheet in a couple of recent matches, so hopefully, we can help him out with the service to keep him scoring.”
Although it’s only October, the Blues have already played 21 matches across eight different competitions this season and the 26-year-old feels there’s more to come from both the team and himself in terms of performances.
“The season so far has been difficult. It was hard playing Thursday / Sunday for a few weeks during our European campaign and then to miss out on the group stage in the manner we did was really difficult. It’s hard to judge our start to the season because of that but recently, we’ve put together a run of a few wins and we want to keep building on that.
“Personally, I’d say my performances have been up and down. I think in patches I’ve been good and there’s been patches where I haven’t been quite so good. I didn’t play much throughout last season so it’s about getting back to proper match fitness and perhaps getting back into regular competitive football has taken me a wee while to get back into the swing of things, but I’m starting to feel a lot better and more physically ready, as the weeks go on. At this stage, I want to be playing every match and giving my best.”
No stranger to the ‘Big Two’ derby, Cooper is looking forward to the end of a remarkable run of ten consecutive away fixtures and with the Blues six points behind the Glens, there’s a lot at stake tonight but he insists David Healy’s men will approach the match with optimism and belief.
“It feels like we haven’t played at Windsor for a very long time, so it will be nice to get back. We are due a home draw in one of the cup competitions. We can’t wait to be back in front of the home crowd and what a match to return with. The derby is like a cup final, no matter where either team is sitting in the table. It’s a one-off game and hopefully, we can come out on top. It’ll be a difficult match but we will back ourselves. You don’t want to be chasing teams down, even at this early stage of the season. Hopefully, the fans can get behind us and drive us on.”
Best of luck to Joel and his teammates for tonight's big match under the lights at Windsor Park.