Alzate: 'Happy To Win Award'

Delighted to be named as the Safiport Player of the Month for January, Steven Alzate spoke exclusively to Tigers Plus about his impressive performances.

After joining the club as a free agent in the summer, the midfielder has gone on to make 17 appearances for the Tigers.

“On a personal note, I’m delighted. The hardwork’s paying off and hopefully I can keep putting in big performances,” said Alzate. “I’ve been growing game by game, feeling more confident and sharper.

“I appreciate the award massively; the fans are there every step we take, home and away. Thanks to them for the support and hopefully they’ll keep encouraging us until the end of the season.” 

The Colombian enjoyed a successful January, a month that consisted of memorable away wins at Sheffield United and Millwall, and a dramatic fight-back to earn a point against Leeds United.

He continued: “January pretty much sums up the Championship, every game is a test. Even the teams at the bottom can surprise you with a win and vice-versa with the teams at the top, so we just need to go into every game prepared and at our best and not underestimate any team.

“As a collective, I feel like we’ve shown a lot of resilience in certain games. There is a lot of belief in this group right now. Obviously recent results have been up and down, but there’s a lot of belief and I'm sure we’ll start picking up some results.”

The 26-year-old midfielder has appeared in every game since the arrival of Rubén Sellés and spoke about how enjoyable it is to play under the head coach.

“I've enjoyed every minute; most of the boys would probably say the same,” revealed Alzate. “He’s a top coach. He knows what he wants from his players and from the minute he arrived, we knew what sort of person he was; as a man and a manager. 

“I’ve said it before that if he joined at the beginning of the season, we could be in a different situation now, but we’ve got to deal with the situation we are in and I’m sure we’ll finish strong and hopefully, build into next season.”

Alzate was only able to rack up two substitute appearances before sustaining a calf injury which kept him out until December.

“When I first joined I struggled a bit with the injury, but the last couple of months I’ve been really enjoying myself,” the midfielder said. “It was frustrating. At that point I felt I was picking up fitness not having played pre-season, but I guess these things happen.

“The rehab I did with the physios was top; they made sure I was back in top condition and then the gaffer came in and gave me his trust which hopefully now I’m paying back.”

The Colombian finished by outlining his ambitions for the rest of the 2024/25 campaign.

“My hopes are to win as many games as we can and not focus too much on the relegation scrap. Although we’re down there, we’ve got to take it game by game, not being too worried about what could happen and keep winning games and that’ll take care of itself.”