Steve Phillips on reaching the milestone of 600 games
Steve Phillips is set to make his 600th career appearance at Boundary Park this weekend and the 35-year-old stopper says that reaching that reaching that milestone has only been achieved through sheer hard work. Phillips has managed to wrestle the number one shirt from Alan Martin after starting the new campaign out of the side and his fourth appearance of this season will mean he is 600 games up after former consistent stints at the two Bristol clubs and Shrewsbury Town on loan.
Phillips, who is now an important part of the Academy coaching structure has stressed that it will be a normal game at Boundary Park tomorrow as he targets a clean-sheet and the first away points of the season.
Phillips told Crewealex player: “When I first got into the Bristol City first team at the age of 18, I would never have thought I would go on to play 600 games in my career. I would have been lucky to have got to 60.
“I would say that my story of making the grade is through sheer hard work. I can look back on my career and be proud of what I’ve achieved because I’ve given it everything I had. I couldn’t have done any more.
“Like any career there have been massive highs and disastrous lows. That is going to happen but when I look back at it, I would say those highs outweigh the lows.
“All that hard work has paid off. The main ingredient is the working and absorbing the information that the coaches give you. As a goalkeeper you have to master the technique. If you don't do that then you won't save as many shots as you should do. There are a lot of things to learn and I have been pretty pleased with my career and what I have been able to achieve.
"It has been a fantastic roller coaster of a career and it will be an emotional time for me because I wanted to reach that milestone.
Steve added: “Saying that it is a normal game for me. The 600 games won’t come into it because we need to get something from the game. My aim, as usual is to keep a clean-sheet and help us win the game.”