Ruffs and Tuffs Issue 1

BEN IS A PLAYER WHO IS A MANAGERS DREAM.
HE IS A POSITIVE PERSON WITHIN THE GROUP.
WHEN THE HARD WORK IS BEING DONE HES AT
THE FOREFRONT
MANAGER: CHRIS STRAIN
B
Ben Grant sat down with Ben
Lewis to talk about his time at
the club. Benji signed in 2008
as a 17 year old and has stayed
with the club throughout celebrating his
Testimonial last season against Kilmarnock.
He tells us about what it’s like playing
for his local team, how pre-season has
been and what he hopes to achieve in the
season ahead.
You signed as a 17 year old, what was that
like?
It was a great honour. Grew up watching
the buffs for years and years with many
great memories. It came about as my
uncle had a friend on the committee, Peter
Cochrane, and he asked me to come in
for a trial and I played against Woodwynd
Wolves and scored three goals and then
they wanted to sign me and it’s went on
from there.
You’re a local boy and live in Kilwinning,
what’s it like playing for your local club?
It’s brilliant, it sounds dead cliched . As I
say grow up watching them and I couldn’t
think of anything better. I just love coming
down and I'm really looking forward to the
move as I played boys club here. It should
be good.
You been here for ten years., How did it
feel to get your testimonial last season?
I really appreciated the club doing that for
me because in this day and age not many
players stay at the same club for 10 years.
The club put a lot on for me, they gave me
a game against Kilmarnock and it was
very well attended. I enjoyed that. There
was a dinner dance too. I think ther is a
golf date organised as well, looking forward
to that. It's been great.
Obviously been here for 10 years you’ve
had some highs and lows what would you
say your highs have been?
Signing for a start, - a few finals and semifinals
we got to the West of Scotland Cup
final against Arthurlie although it wasn't
a good result but I walked out as Captain
with my daughter and step-daughter So
that was a great day. We’ve had a couple
good runs in the Scottish Cup. But I would
like to be able to win some more trophies
We won the Ayrshire Cup last year and
that’s a non existent cup now so we were
the last team to win that and I won that as
captain so it was a great honour.
So looking ahead to the season fastly approaching
how’s pre-season been?
It’s been good, I was at the first fews
sessions and I went out in holiday and I
missed a few Sessions so not ideal preparation,
so I’m maybe not up to speed as
the other boys. I’ve picked up a slight
niggle at the Girvan Tournament. I'm just
hoping to get fit and push for a place as
there is a lot of competition and a big
squad. I’m looking forward to the season
ahead.
The section cup is next against Ardeer,
Saltcoats and Largs give us your thoughts
on your opponents
I've not seen any results pre-season
for them but it doesn’t really come into
account, this is when the competitive
games start. Largs are in our league so it
should be a tough game. Ardeer I think
I've signed a few players so they will have
a big squad and we haven't really seen
much of Saltocats. But at this club your
expected to go out and win every game
even against the bigger teams. We hope to
get 9 points from the Sectional Cup Group
games and push on.
DIFFERENT GENERATIONS HAVE
REASONS FOR CONFLICT
Finally what’s your aspirations for the
team and as a player for the season
ahead?
As a player I always give my all for my
team mates, make sure everyone is comfortable
especially the new signings as I’m
one of the more experienced boys in the
team so I’ll make sure they settle in well.
I’d like to score more goals and get a good
run on the team as I said there’s a lot of
competition for places.
For the season ahead I'd expect us to
compete for the league, it will be tough
and obviously moving ground might take a
bit to settle in. Also there’s a lot of younger
boys in the squad so hopefully do well
in the league and get a decent cup runs in
the West and Scottish
7th August 2019 [ Ruff N Tuffs ] 07