Mumba's Bristol Rovers Preview
When Bali Mumba left the field of play at Morecambe on 7 April, his expression was of a man whose season was over.
A dislocated kneecap clearly left the wing-back, on loan from Norwich, in great pain, but just 15 days later he was in the Pilgrims’ starting line-up that won 3-1 at home to Cambridge United last Saturday.
“It was looking really hard,” said Bali. “It got me quite upset knowing that it could be my last game or the last time I could be on the pitch this season.
“But all glory to God, everything went well with my scans, with my knee. I managed to do a little bit of work at Norwich with the physios. I missed a few games, but I knew that I'd be back for the last couple of games. That was motivating me, pushing me and something I was excited for.
“To start on Saturday, to finally be back at Home Park and play, it was an exciting moment for me. It felt like my first game again!”
Mumba’s season has been an impressive one, and his performances have bene noted beyond the South West. On Sunday night, he was named as Sky Bet League One’s Young Player of the Year, and was also named in the divisional Team of the Season.
Speaking to Argyle TV with two award trophies in front of him, Bali said that the best way to celebrate those awards is going to be with a League One promotion medal alongside it.
If Argyle win at home to Bristol Rovers on Tuesday night, it will go a long way towards that target.
“[The awards are] a good achievement, and I’m buzzing, but I have to push it to the side and, and straight away focus onto the next challenge and the next goal. As a team, we know where that is, and we're working towards that.
“I'm hungry to finish off the season strongly and, hopefully, put my hands on a bigger sort of achievement which is a league.
“Hopefully when it comes to 7 May, I can sit back and then enjoy what I have here in front of me.
“It's quite exciting. I'm ready to go. We're all focused on the game, focused on the next couple days, to get the result that we need to get in that game, and then we can look onto Saturday to hopefully finish the job.”
