Traynor: ‘I would love another crack of playing in Europe’

AARON Traynor is the latest summer signing to be asked a series of questions on life as a Bannsider so far…

Q1. Well Aaron, what have you made of your time at Coleraine so far? You must have been impressed with our start to the season?

I am really enjoying my time at the club. I’ve settled in well with all the lads and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it so far and with the start to the season we have had, its easy to see why. It is a great ‘start’ but there is still a lot to play for but its brought a great buzz around the team, fans and the club as a whole, so long may it continue.

Q2. You joined from Warrenpoint Town after helping them reach promotion – must have been a difficult decision? Was the lure of European football a deciding factor?

At the time it was a tough choice. But once I made my mind up I haven’t looked back. I’ve always wanted to push myself and thought this was a great opportunity to do that. With the success of last year’s campaign brought European football. Having that as an extra bonus when joining was great, I really enjoyed the experience but would love another crack at it.

Q3. You were in the team for the first few fixtures, before finding yourself on the bench. Was that a frustrating time for you? Do you think you had a point to prove after that?

First few weeks of pre-season I felt good. But during pre-season my performances were a bit up and down so I knew myself I didn’t really reach the heights that I wanted to and ultimately found myself out of the team. This gave me the wake up call and since I’ve got back in, I’ve really enjoyed my football.

Q4. Talk us through your blossoming relationship with Darren McCauley on the left-hand side – is he a joy to play with?

Joining a new team can take time to adapt to. I think now Darren and I have played a lot of games together and it’s definitely benefiting our understanding of one another. I think for me it’s about focusing on the defending aspect and basically letting Darren do what he does best and that’s get the ball in dangerous areas and put the other team on the back foot. He’s had a great start to the season with 9 goals and one aspect of his game that sometimes goes unnoticed is his work rate, which obviously helps me defensively which is a bonus.

Q5. You’re a part of a defensive unit that has conceded the least amount of goals in the Danske Bank Premiership (10) – you must be proud of that record?

As a defender looking at the league table it’s obviously great to see us at the top at the minute. But our defensive record is also great to see. 10 goals conceded in 14 games, with the reputation of the Irish League being high scoring, it’s not a bad stat to have. We have managed to pick up a few clean sheets along the way and that always helps. Having one of the best keepers in the league in Chris Johns is not bad to have either.

Q6. Looking ahead on a personal level, the only thing missing so far has been your maiden goal for the Bannsiders?

I think our team have a vendetta against me when it comes to scoring and I know why. In training, I’ll score a tap in and I’ll let them know about it for about a week, so you can only imagine what it would be like if I got my first goal. All I know is everyone will hear about it and probably never hear the end of it either…….but it will come hopefully sooner rather than later.

Q7. What’s your aims for the rest of the season?

We have our own targets as a team and we keep them in house, they have been set since pre-season. If we can manage to reach that target we will be happy, anything else after that would be a bonus. However, on Saturday we have a tough game away to Linfield and we will have to work extremely hard to get something from the game, but we remain positive and hopefully we can send the supporters back up the road with 3 points in the bag.