New Diss Town signing Matt Blake looking to awaken sleeping giant with late run to play-offs

Matt Blake is hoping he can awaken a sleeping giant at Diss Town and help steer the club up into the Thurlow Nunn League First Division North play-offs.

The Tangerines have bolstered their attacking options with the eye-catching signing of striker Blake, who was a free agent after leaving higher-league Ipswich Wanderers last month.

The frontman from Thetford fired in 35 goals to help Wanderers to the Thurlow Nunn League First Division South title last season, and had already scored 11 goals for the Suffolk club this term in the Premier Division.

Blake, now 34, has also enjoyed successful spells at Norwich United, Leiston and Stowmarket Town, winning the golden boot at Step 3 with Leiston in 2016/17, but now has the task of helping his new club Diss with a play-off push during the second half of the season.

At the halfway point of their league fixtures, the Tangerines currently sit in 12th place, nine points and seven spots off of the play-offs, but their new striker is determined to make an impact and close that gap over the coming weeks and months.

“I left Wanderers and with what happened there I didn’t really want to leave, to be fair,” Blake said.

“I was in a position where I was thinking I was going to retire. I just didn’t know if I fancied it anymore.

“With what I’ve got going on outside of football and in my life, I needed to play somewhere local.

“I know a few of the lads there (at Diss) and it would be a shame for me to retire before my time.

“I can help a few of the young lads and pass on a bit of info that I’ve learnt over the years and basically crack on at Diss and see if we can get in the play-offs.

“If I knew that I couldn’t produce or couldn’t make things happen then I just wouldn’t play. I wouldn’t do it to myself.

“I’ve still got plenty of legs left in me to go for a couple more years at a reasonable level.

“I don’t know much about the team at Diss. I know they’re a young and hungry group and they want to get in the play-offs.

“I think that’s why they’ve signed me, to get in the play-offs and get promotion into the league above, where they should be. That club has been asleep for a little while.”

After netting 40-plus goals in consecutive seasons to guide Norwich United to back-to-back Thurlow Nunn League Premier Division titles in 2015 and 2016, Blake has spent the last six years at Suffolk clubs, which has led to him proclaiming himself as ‘the best striker in Suffolk’ on Twitter - a tag which he jokes no other striker has challenged him on having yet.

“It’s funny because I talk a lot of s*** on Twitter and that but people need to see things like that, rather than everyone being so scripted all the time,” he said.

“I don’t hurt anybody. It’s funny because it’s different. Someone being completely out there and that’s not my character anyway.

“It rattles people up and it annoys people when I sit down and say I’m the best striker in Suffolk, but no other striker has responded to it, so then I know I am.

“It’s all fun and games and it’s all to make people smile and laugh and have a joke. That’s all it is.”

Blake’s arrival at Brewers Green Lane was followed by three more new signings, with joint managers Mark Sutcliffe and Matt Coote also adding to their squad with midfielder Charlie Barber, from Norwich United on a one-month loan, along with Harvey Foreman and Nathan Pauling.

After last weekend’s home clash with Downham Town was postponed, all four new additions could now feature for Diss in tonight’s scheduled trip to AFC Sudbury Reserves (7.45pm), with their new forward aiming to get off the mark.

“I always like a debut,” Blake said. “I’m not saying this to be big headed, but I don’t think I’ve never not scored in a debut. I’m serious!

“I went to Norwich United and scored on my debut, it might have been against Felixstowe. I did it at Stow and at Leiston.

“I think it’s because of the hype, that’s the thing with me. If I’ve got nothing to prove or nothing to play for then I really struggle as a player.

“If I’m turning up and lacing my boots and I know it’s a debut, this is why I took the opportunity to go to Diss. There’s something to fight for, to get in the play-offs.

“I’m the worst player to have in the team if we’ve got nothing to play for. I’ve looked at where Diss are at and stuff and I think we’re nine points away, so it’s definitely do-able. We’ve just got to go on a run now.”