Thursday, 28th August 2008

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- Andy Parker – Burton Mail

15th November 1991
Most footballers’ boots are well and truly hung up by the time their 37th birthday rolls round.

But that’s certainly not the case as Brian Beresford takes a deep breath in readiness to blow out the candles at the end of the month.

The evergreen Gresley striker is instead setting his sights on firing Rovers to the top of the West Midlands League as his remarkable career enters yet another golden era.

As Beresford basked in the glory of his 12th goal of the season on Wednesday, he confessed: “People have written me off more than once – but I still keep popping the goals in.”

Manager Frank Northwood has parted company with Beresford several times in the past but is now delighted to have the much-travelled veteran in his forward line.

“Bezza’s superb – he keeps cropping up and if we can get balls to him in the box he’s always sticking them in. I obviously think there’s a lot more goals in those boots yet – and I hope they take us to the top of the league,” he says.

Coach Steve Dolby is equally fulsome in his praise. “He’s doing so well for us at the moment,” he says, “scoring goals and looking sharp – it’s amazing really. I just hope he can keep it up.”

Beresford says that hard work in his early days helped his career carry on so long.

“I’ve been lucky with injuries over the years, I’ve never put on weight and I’ve kept myself fit. But I trained very hard in the early days and that’s paid off. I’m certainly feeling pretty fit at the moment – better than I have done for years, really.

“You’ve got to get that extra bit of fitness when you’re young because, if you’re not careful, you can soon lose it. But I’ve been lucky, too, to come into a good side even though we’ve been a bit inconsistent this season – and we play good football.

“Every striker goes through droughts – Kieron Smith is in the middle of a rough patch at the moment but he’ll come through it for sure because he works hard. Personally, I feel really confident – every time I go out I feel as if I’m going to score.

“But playing alongside people Paul Acklam helps. Paul’s like me – a natural goalscorer. In the early days of my Gresley career I was scoring my 30 goals but there was no-one else at the club who could chip in with those 15 or 20 extra you need to win titles.

“Now we’ve got three or four players at the club who are capable of scoring 30 in a season.”

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