Alex Revell has been a member of the first team squad for two seasons and has over 30 appearances to his name, and yet he is still only 19.
John Beck gave the Cambridge-born striker his first professional contract at the age of 17 and promoted him to the first team squad, but when John Taylor became manager last year he told 'Aggy' that he thought he was too young to be starting games.
This season has been a frustrating one as he enjoyed a good pre-season campaign and was on the bench for the first three games of the season, coming on at Bury, but then a broken foot ruled him out for almost six months.
"I had probably one of the best pre-seasons I've had and I did every day, but after the Bury game I had a car crash when a lady hit me and I think it was caused by that. It was a crack where my little toe joins the foot and I had to have an operation to put a screw in where it was broken. For some reason it just wouldn't heal and it took double the time - I should have been out for two months and it took just under six to get back.
"I wanted this to be my year to get into the team and start getting a run in the side, but it hasn't been like that and it's been hard being out for so long. But hopefully that's all behind me now and I can get on with the future with no problems," he adds.
A side effect of being injured for several months was that Alex watched all of our home games and some of the away games, and he says he learned from the process - especially from watching top scorer Dave Kitson.
"I'd rather see the lads doing well when I'm injured because, like everyone at the club, I want Cambridge to do better," he says.
"When you're watching people you look at what they're doing and you think 'I should do that' and 'when I come back I'm going to try that'. I've looked at Kits all year and, for me, I've watched him get better and better with every game."
Unsurprisingly, Alex has also learned from John Taylor, as he explains. "It's hard when you're injured and he's got the character to help you through it, and when you're back in training and he's doing the sessions for the strikers, there's no better person to learn from really. He's been there and done it, and scored goals wherever he's gone."
Alex is available for the remaining fixtures of this season after completing a one-month loan spell at Kettering Town last week. Although he joined the Poppies when they were adrift at the foot of the Conference and was unable to prevent their inevitable relegation, he has benefited from his month there, as he explains:
"Since I came back from the injury I only played five competitive games, and that wasn't enough for me to get back into the first team because I wasn't getting sharp and fit enough. I'd scored something like six goals in four games for the reserves and the gaffer told me I was doing well but I needed to get some more competitive games, so I went to Kettering and I played seven games in a month.
"I've definitely got my match fitness up and I've enjoyed it. It was quite hard because they obviously knew they were going down but I've played all the games for 90 minutes so it was a good experience and I've learned from it."
Alex now hopes to be involved in the season's run-in and says John Taylor has set him the challenge of playing a full part in the chase for a play-off place: "The gaffer took me into a meeting when I got back and said we've got four games to try to push for the play-offs and we've only got sixteen players at the moment, so hopefully I'll be involved in the squad."
Whether Alex plays in his preferred position up front or on the wing, where he has been seen more often this season, remains to be seen, although he reveals that the management team think he could adapt into either role.
"In pre-season the gaffer told me it's up to me because they rate me highly as both, and I can play out wide if I want to, but it's hard when at the start of the season you're watching Tudes running down the right wing and thinking to yourself 'I can't compete with that', because he was brilliant before he got injured.
"I think I prefer to be up front but I need to score goals in the first team because as a striker you're judged on that, and maybe I haven't scored enough. But hopefully if I keep working hard then it will come."
From a personal point of view Alex is determined to help his hometown club do as well as possible and he is clear about his ambitions for the rest of this season.
"I love it here and I want to do well enough to get in the side and start playing. I want the team to reach the play-offs just as much as anyone else, and with the team we've got at the moment and the way we've been playing recently I think we can do it."
An edited version of this article was published in the programme for the match against Lincoln City on 22nd April 2003.
An extended version of Alex's interview is archived for you to listen to on our U's World multimedia website, and if you're an NTL broadband subscriber you may be entitled to U's World for free! Click here for more details of the offer, or here to go straight to the exclusive audio and video archives on U's World.
Previous Featured Players:
08May03 - Shaun Marshall
14Apr03 - Ezomo 'Izzy' Iriekpen
20Mar03 - Terry Fleming
13Mar03 - David Bridges
06Mar03 - Dave Kitson
24Feb03 - Martin Brennan
14Feb03 - Fred Murray
06Feb03 - Stephen Jordan
23Jan03 - Paul Wanless
16Jan03 - Luke Guttridge
09Jan03 - Omer Riza
01Jan03 - Stev Angus
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09Oct02 - Dave Kitson
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18Sep02 - Shaun Marshall
17Jul02 - Jonathan Heathcote
21Apr02 - Your Players of the Year
07Apr02 - Danny Jackman
31Mar02 - Terry Fleming
24Mar02 - Five Star Youth - next season's new pros
17Mar02 - Neil Mustoe
10Mar02 - Tony Scully
03Mar02 - Shaun Marshall
24Feb02 - Fred Murray
17Feb02 - John Taylor
10Feb02 - Andy Duncan
03Feb02 - Ian Ashbee
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20Jan02 - Shane Tudor
13Jan02 - Daniel Chillingworth
06Jan02 - Stev Angus
17Dec01 - Adam Butterworth
09Dec01 - Demba Traore
25Nov01 - Dean Walling
11Nov01 - Warren Goodhind
03Nov01 - Richard Prokas
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