MATTY PEARSON only has one mode – all out.
“Me,” he answers almost before the question has even been asked: Who is the best table tennis player at FC Halifax Town?
Whether it’s in training, on a match day or when the ping-ping bats come out at the Shay, the 20-year-old just loves to win.
“Scott McManus is alright at table tennis and Simon Ainge thinks he’s got a bit but generally it’s me,” he says.
“We’ve played a lot of games this season so we go in for a little cool down. It was hard to find places to train so we’d often go to the ground and jog around the pitch to keep ticking over.
“A few lads go out and play head tennis, some get rubs and I play table tennis. You’ve got to have a laugh and get that team spirit going.
“I’m just a competitive person and want to win – I think that’s what keeps people going at times; winning and losing.”
In a way it is surprising Pearson has the energy to talk. He’s spent the morning at training encouraging his England C team-mates at the top of his voice as if they’re playing in a play-off final.
That he wasn’t in last Sunday’s wasn’t for want of trying as part-time FC Halifax fell agonisingly short in the Skrill Premier semis against Cambridge United after going into the second leg with a 1-0 lead.
“It’s a gutting feeling to lose,” he says. “To go down with that advantage…maybe we should have done better but things happen don’t they?
“The play-off final was the day before this trip and as we were travelling down to the hotel me and Robbo (team-mate Marc Roberts) were saying we wished we’d been there. Getting so close makes it worse I think.”
Pearson’s all-action playing style has England C team-mate James Norwood joking he was terrified the first time they roomed together in Latvia and James Marwood admitting he was nervous meeting him on this trip after a couple of on-pitch run-ins.
But while his fellow Three Lions fell about laughing when an almighty crash came from the next room with perfect comic timing as he started to speak at the customary introduction meeting, or told him to “growl” at the projector when it wouldn’t work, Pearson isn’t just a midfield hard man.
He’s a genuine, grounded young man who can play too which fits perfectly with England C boss Paul Fairclough‘s ethos.
Having started his career at Blackburn Rovers, where he captained the reserves, and then had a spell at Rochdale, Pearson is feeling the benefits of regular football.
By day he works for his dad’s company fitting garage doors before focusing his attention his real motivation.
On loan last season he helped FC Halifax win the Conference North and this season, in a team of players who have had outstanding seasons, he’s shone.
“Non-League is a great shop window,” he says. “It’s where more hearty players and people who actually want to play football play. It’s a hard league because everyone is giving 100 per cent.
“You go to some of the higher places, especially in reserves, and they’re not bothered. I thought I’d done well playing a lot of reserve games for Blackburn.
“Now I wish I’d been at a Conference North team because they are more competitive. Reserve games don’t mean anything. Some players are just there to show their face and run around for a little bit. If they played in the Conference they couldn’t handle it.
“They want to have that tag. They’re at a Premier League club but they’ve not played a game, not done much and they think the name of the club means something. It doesn’t, it’s your own name and you’ve got to put it about.
“You speak to a lot of lads here with England C and you see where they’ve come from. You realise it’s not all finished if you drop out of the League.”
