Mildenhall Town’s new signing Sam Mulready excited by fresh challenge following recent stints with Soham Town Rangers and Deeping Rangers

Sam Mulready is eager to make up for lost time after completing a move to Mildenhall Town.

It has been a stop-start period for the striker, who towards the end of his time at Soham Town Rangers suffered a persistent shoulder injury that eventually required surgery to correct.

He left Julius Martin Lane in the summer in search of a fresh start at Deeping Rangers, but that move did not work out.

However, having had a few weeks out of the game, Mulready linked up with a number of his former Soham team-mates at Mildenhall last week and he made his debut off the bench during Saturday’s 2-0 win at Walthamstow.

“My shoulder dislocated four or five times over an 18-month period. I’d get myself back fit and then it would happen again so I had to have surgery in the end,” said the forward.

“It first happened towards the end of those seasons that were stopped by Covid, so I’ve missed a lot of football in recent years.

“Football has been a huge part of my life for such a long time but all of a sudden I was finding myself at home on Saturday afternoons.

“Since leaving Deeping I’ve had to spend the last few weeks in the gym and going out for runs on my own.

“I had some good seasons at Soham where I was smashing in goals and I loved my time at the club.

“It has felt like a long time getting back to this point and now I want to make the most of it.”

While Mulready has a proven track record at Step 4, a couple of seasons have passed by since he last regularly played at that level.

Nevertheless, the 31-year-old is determined to prove that he can still produce the goods.

“I’m still only 31 and I feel like I’ve got a lot more to give,” added Mulready.

“I’ve always believed that I can score goals at Step 3 and Step 4 and that’s the sort of level I want to be playing at.

“I’ve been out of that level for a couple of years and I could tell when I came on at the weekend that it’s a step up in standard.

“But I’ve proven myself at that level and I want to play as high as I can. I’ve not made this move to wind down, I want to show I can still do it at this level.

“I want to be part of a successful team and score goals – it feels like Mildenhall is the right place for me to do that.”

The goals have not always flowed for Mildenhall since their promotion to the Pitching In Isthmian League North Division.

They have found the back of the net 11 times from their nine league outings to date – only six sides have scored less goals.

However, Mulready is hopeful that his arrival can help to enhance those numbers.

“Last season the boys did unbelievable and they were far too good for that division (Thurlow Nunn League Premier Division),” he said.

“One of the main pulls when it came to joining the club was the amount of chances they create.

“It sounds like they’ve been in a lot of games and have just missed that final bit at the top end of the pitch.

“Even though the standard of the opposition has gone up, the squad is still more than good enough for the level and I think they’re in a bit of a false position.

“It would be more of a worry if they weren’t creating chances, but they are. Hopefully I can help with that by scoring the goals that push them up the league.”

Mulready is in line to make his home debut for Mildenhall on Saturday when Tilbury visit the Riverside Stadium (3pm), while on Tuesday Phil Weavers’ men head to Witham Town (7.45pm).