Life at Halstead Town tasting sweet for captain Jack Cherry as keeper passes 200 appearances

Halstead Town captain Jack Cherry believes his personal pride at passing the 200 appearance mark for the Humbugs is a collective credit to what the club has become.

The 27-year-old goalkeeper first joined the Rosemary Lane outfit as a 16-year-old, and aside from a few years away from the club as he tried his luck at higher-league AFC Sudbury, it has become the Braintree-based player’s football home.

The recent August bank holiday game with FC Clacton – a 3-3 thriller played out in front of bumper 300-plus crowd at The Milbank Stadium – saw Cherry pass the double century mark for the north Essex club.

And now in his third season as club captain, having led them to a play-off final promotion from the Thurlow Nunn League First Division South to the Essex Senior League Premier Division in the first with the armband on, he revealed he has no intention of having another club before he hangs his gloves up.

“I have loved playing every minute for Halstead,” he said.

“I was there when I was 16, I played for a couple of years then I had a couple of years away from the club then I came back, I think it was four or five years ago now, and I’ve loved every minute of it.

“It’s credit to everyone involved, the players, the managers, the staff, the people behind the scenes. They all make you feel so welcome and it makes you want to stay and play there even longer.

“As long as I’m still getting picked I’d like to stay at Halstead as long as I can, it’s a great club to be at.”

However, he still has a long way to go to beat the current club record appearance holder with Mick Osborne’s time from 1930-52 seeing him make no less than 456 appearances.

Cheery said: “For me it was get to the 100 then I wanted to get to the 200 and now it’s just about keeping going. It’s always nice to have that achievement but at the end of the day it’s about the playing and winning as well, and the club are in a good space at the moment.”

Having ended their 14-year absence from Step 5 of the non-league pyramid in 15th place, Cherry is ‘ 100 per cent confident’ a squad with a few reinforcements in key areas, such as the return of wing wizard Kane Gilbert and the arrival of Adi Funbi from Bunrham Ramblers, can finish higher this term.

They head into games against Isthmian League relegated sides Tilbury, away on Saturday (3pm), and Hullbridge Sports, home on Tuesday (7.45pm), sitting eighth in the early table with two wins, three draws and a single defeat from six matches.

Their maiden loss came on Saturday having conceded twice in the second half at West Essex after they had led through Funbi’s first-half header, to lose 3-1.

But Cherry is confident they can bounce back, saying: “Absolutely. Saturday was a tough one to take as although they’re a very good side we should have been out of sight by half-time as we had some really good chances. But we’ve just got to learn from our mistakes and then hopefully put it right on Saturday and then again on Tuesday in two massive games against relegated teams.

“It's going to be a test but I think the character and spirit of everyone at Halstead is as good as it’s been and we’ll be right up for it.”