Angus MacDonald spoke with the media today ahead of this weekend's fixture against Reading at Oakwell.
It’s been a superb few weeks for the Reds defender, encompassing a dramatic climb of the footballing ladder culminating in three straight victories. He’s seemingly taken to Championship football like a duck to water but he recognises the huge step up that he’s made.
“It’s definitely a change from what I’m used to but I’ve been up here now for five or six weeks and I’m settling in nicely. I couldn’t have asked for a better start. I’ve gone from playing Braintree on a Tuesday night to playing at Molineux on a Tuesday night! It’s still sinking in if I’m honest.”
The 23-year-old arrived at the start of August from Torquay and he cites the speed of football as the biggest difference between the levels.
He said: “The tempo’s a lot faster than what I’m used to obviously. If you make mistakes up here you’re going to get hurt. So that’s the main difference, the quicker tempo.
“What we do in training you take into a matchday, so even in training it’s a lot quicker and so I’ve tried to take what I can from that into the games.”
The Reds have one of the youngest squads in the division once again but Angus doesn’t see that as an issue, in fact he believes it’s only a positive.
“It’s a positive in my opinion. It’s good to have so many of us who are new to it but looking to achieve and striving to reach the highest level. We’re all making steps up so we’re all in it together, but I think we’re doing well so far.”
MacDonald has partnered Marc Roberts in the centre of defence so far and it’s not the first time they’ve done so, as Angus explained.
“I’ve known ‘Robbo’ for a while, we played together for England C and got on well with each other. We know what to expect from one and other so yes, it’s been helpful. Obviously it’s hard filling Alfie Mawson’s shoes but I’m just going to keep working hard and hope to do well.
“I’ve just tried to keep the focus on myself and doing well for the team.”
As a product of the Academy at Reading, this weekend’s fixture will mean a little extra to Angus although he admits The Royals are a very different outfit from the one who released him three years ago.
“Reading’s a lot different from when I was there. There’s lots of different faces, probably only a couple I still recognise from my time. I was there a long time and I’d have liked to have made an appearance but I think it did me the world of good really, getting released and having to go down a couple of levels.
“But it’s going to be a good experience for me I think. As a team, we go into the game off the back of a great winning performance. We need to carry on what we’re doing. The wins have come from what we’ve done well so if we can carry on doing the little things right, keep progressing then there’s no reason we can’t do well this season.”
You can see the full interview with Angus MacDonald over on Barnsley Player HD!
