AFC Bournemouth
Tonight’s Hampshire Senior Cup game brings back good memories for Brooklyn Genesini.
Part of the team that won last year’s competition, he also played his part during a trip to Farnborough in December 2019, a dramatic 3-2 win in testing conditions sending the Cherries into the last eight.
While this evening will be a somewhat different affair, with players having come and gone from the development squad over the last two years, the right-back will be attacking the game with the same vigour and will be aiming for the same outcome in Hampshire.
Speaking with afcb.co.uk, Genesini started by discussing his excitement at this evening’s cup clash.
“These matches aren’t a regular thing and cup games are always enjoyable whoever you play and whatever cup it is,” he said.
“I think the squad that we have is strong and we’re all really excited.
“Whoever we play, whether they’re a top club like an Arsenal or a team that are perhaps in a lower league, we always go in with the same mindset.
“No game is any different to us and we make sure when we step onto that pitch everything is 100% and everyone is working as hard as they can for each other.”
As the holders of the Hampshire Senior Cup, Genesini knows all too well how it feels to lift that trophy as part of the side that won the competition back in May.
He admitted he’s hungry for more and wants to maintain that winning mentality throughout the season.
“I think with the squad that we’ve got, we’ve got a very good chance of going all the way with this cup and hopefully bringing it home.
“With the Cowes game, it was really exciting because we got a good 7-0 win. As a defender, the clean sheet was great and we want another one this time round.
“When you’ve already won that cup, you want to keep it. You don’t want to give it up and you want to keep winning it.
“As long as I’m here, I want to make sure this cup is ours. I think with the team we’ve got, we can 100% go all the way through.”
It’s not the first time that the Cherries have taken on Farnborough in the Hampshire Senior Cup, with Genesini playing all 90 minutes of the 3-2 win back in December 2019.
A 93rd minute goal from Harvey Bertrand ensured Shaun Cooper’s side came from behind to progress to the quarter-final.
He recalls: “It was such an exciting game and, being in it, it was so up and down. There were good parts and bad parts and obviously I was alongside players that I don’t play with now.
“It was crazy but it’s one of those games you never forget. That’s why I think these cup games are so vital. We won’t forget them because they’re such important games to us and they don’t come along often.
“I think in this game, we can go out and be even better than last time and get that win to progress in the cup.”
With a whole host of games coming up, including the likes of Southampton in the Premier League Cup, Genesini can’t wait to get going in 2022.
“We love playing games and they’re so different to training,” he concluded.
“When we don’t have the games, we try hard to replicate that situation in training.
“We work hard, we do our running, so we’re not lacking in that sense but having these games is a blessing because it helps us as individuals and as a team to be better players.
“When we want to try and break into a first team, we want matches under our belt to get ourselves out there.”
