NATHAN Wood is happy to be patient for his big chance in League Two after swapping the daily grind for life as a professional footballer at Newport County AFC.
Last season, the 25-year-old from Rogerstone was playing for Penybont while working part-time at Caffe Nero in Spytty Park, a Nick Townsend goal-kick away from where the Exiles train.
The attacking midfielder’s exploits in the Cymru Premier caught the eye of County and the barista hung up his apron to sign a two-year deal last summer.
Wood was on the books of the Exiles as a youngster and had to show resilience to earn a Football League chance, starting at Undy AFC after being released and then building his game at Penybont.
The learning has continued with Graham Coughlan’s first team but the local lad is starting to push for more opportunities.
After seven cameos off the bench for a combined total of 135 minutes, Wood got a first start for his hometown club in Tuesday’s EFL Trophy game at Cheltenham and scored the first goal in a 2-0 win.
He has given the boss a nudge but isn’t getting carried away, he knows that more patience might be needed ahead of Saturday’s League Two trip to Swindon.
“I knew that my chance would come, it’s a long season and I knew I had to take it when it came,” he said.
“Hopefully I did that in Cheltenham, there is still a long way to go but it’s a good start. I just have to be patient, keep my attitude right and train hard.”
“Whatever the reason for a chance, whether injuries or just 20 minutes, you have to make sure you take it,” he continued.
“I thought that I had a good end to the game against Salford and I tried to build on that with 90 at Cheltenham. I’ll just try to take the next chance when it comes. We’ve just got to step up as the boys on the bench.”
After being a part-timer with Penybont, it’s the non-matchdays where Wood is making the most progress.
“It’s a big step and going from part-time to full-time is difficult,” he said. “Tactically it goes up again, physically it goes up again, mentally you have to navigate through training differently.
“All those things play a factor and you have to put them to one side; it’s taken me a little while to hit the ground but hopefully I can use this to kick on and score more goals in the Football League and help the team whenever I am needed.”
Wood doesn’t have to look far for advice on how to make the transition; fellow Gwent midfielder James Waite was a teammate at Penybont while top scorer Will Evans earned a shot at County thanks to his performances at Cardiff Met then Bala.
“I am close to James off the pitch, I always have been, and I played with Will in the Wales C squads,” said Wood.
“I know them both well and they have been great, Will said to me in the changing room before Cheltenham to not overthink it, to do my thing, that I had been doing it every week in the Cymru Premier so just do it here. Hopefully I did that, but it’s only a start.”
Wood’s predatory finish at Whaddon Road will have helped his cause for more action at the County Ground this weekend.
The midfielder points to the influence of a former Exiles striker in adding goals to his game.
"I owe a little bit of that to Rhys Griffiths in the Cymru Premier," he said about the Penybont boss, who was a member of Justin Edinburgh’s promotion-winning squad in 2013.
"He brought that side of my game out because I was always a little bit deeper, trying to be a bit more creative.
"He told me to get around the back stick and I scored a few goals so hopefully I can continue to add to that side of my game in the Football League."
After a first start and a first goal as a professional, achieving that in League Two is Wood’s next target.
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