Aaron Jarvis is adamant team achievements come before any personal accolades, as United begin their preparations for another important home fixture this weekend.
Ahead of The Gulls returning to Plainmoor to take on Dagenham & Redbridge on Saturday, leading scorer Jarvis was quick to highlight how the backing of manager Gary Johnson has played a crucial part in his impressive form this season, with the player very much making himself at home on the English Riviera.
“For me, it’s the first time in football when I’ve been in an environment where I’m happy.
“The manager believes in me, and that’s the most important thing for me. I’ve got a manager that believes in me, and if he’s going to play me every game, that gives me confidence as well to improve every week, whereas in the last four years, I’ve been in and out of teams, not getting a run of games, managers not really feeling me, so it’s hard to get any rhythm going.
“It’s hard to improve as a player as you’re not getting the chance, whereas the Gaffer here has done that, and I feel like I’ve improved every week.”
Although his 13 goals so far this term represent his best return since turning professional, Aaron makes it clear that his main focus remains playing his part in a strong end to the season for his side, with a potentially season-defining 27 points still to play for.
“Personally it’s probably been my best season. I’ve had a good run of games, and obviously chipped in with a few goals as well. I’m more focused about the team side of it, and that has been disappointing. We hoped to have got out of the mess we’re in sooner, rather later, but obviously we’re still finding ourselves right in the mix.
“We hoped it would be a bit different from a team’s point of view, but we’ve still got time to get out of it, and that’s what we’re going to try and do.”
With Jarvis just one of a number of new additions made by Johnson during last pre-season, the United striker admits it took some time for the new recruits to gel, however with nine games remaining, the whole squad are fully aware of the task in hand, and remain committed to the cause.
“It’s hard when you’ve got new players coming in, to learn what their skill set is, what their pros and cons are. It’s hard to gauge that, and get a team flow with a new group of players. We were all new in the summer, so it took a bit of time to adapt and get used to each other.
“We have improved throughout the season, but some would say not enough. We want to get out of this mess that we’ve got ourselves in, and hopefully we are the right group to do it.
“We’re not going to give up until the end. We’ll give our all each game, and we know how important it all is.”