Chaplin's emotional release after last-gasp Pompey winner

CONOR CHAPLIN lifted the lid on the reasons behind his explosion of emotion after delivering late MK Dons drama.
Conor Chaplin celebrates his winning goal. Picture: Joe PeplerConor Chaplin celebrates his winning goal. Picture: Joe Pepler
Conor Chaplin celebrates his winning goal. Picture: Joe Pepler

Chaplin struck in the 94th minute to seal Pompey’s first win of 2018 with a dramatic 2-1 success at Stadium MK.

That sparked jubilant scenes as the 21-year-old sprinted the length of the pitch to celebrate with the 6,257 travelling blue army.

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Chaplin admitted the reaction was a release of the pent-up frustration which has been building at a lack of playing time.

The outing came after just one minute of action in the previous five league games for the fans’ favourite - leading to his first goal since November.

Chaplin said: ‘That meant a lot.

‘There were a lot of fans here and I haven’t been playing. It’s been six games so it means a lot and there’s a lot of relief.

‘It was all the feelings coming to the surface, it definitely was. I’m not going to lie. I’m the sort of character who wants to play.

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‘I love footie and I just want to play, train and score goals.

‘I’m thankful for the opportunity to come in where I haven’t recently.

‘I showed what I can do and I’m happy to do that.’

Chaplin explained his lack of playing time has been a test of his character.

Now he’s hoping he will get his chance to pick up the minutes on the pitch which have been in short supply.

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Chaplin said: ‘It is tough at times, but I think I could be injured or not have the opportunity to be out there training with the boys.

‘That would be a whole lot worse, I know that for a fact.

‘On the other side of it I do feel that if you keep working and believing you’ll get your reward. You can create your own luck by working hard and I won’t shy away from doing that.

‘Everyone wants to play but I enjoy football too much to show a bad attitude.

‘I can’t come into training, be stroppy and not want to train. It’s even more important when I’m out of the team.

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‘I couldn’t go the other way, but now I’d hope to get a chance.’

Chaplin explained his lung-busting celebration was also fuelled by a bet he placed with fellow sub Jamal Lowe.

He said: ‘If there was longer left to play we’d have been down to 10 men, because I would have been on the side of the pitch getting my breath back!

‘I had a bet with Jamal before the game.

‘We knew if we came on and scored in the second half we wouldn’t be in front of our travelling fans.

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‘There were so many of them we knew we wanted to be in front of them.

‘So we said we’d have to run the length of the pitch - and if we didn’t we’d be paying the other person some money!

‘It’s unbelievable when they are in that kind of voice and in those numbers - I couldn’t not do that. They travel in huge numbers. Hopefully I was able to send them home with a smile on their faces.’