Berwick Rangers are on the brink of a promotion Play-Off place and one of the reasons that they have enjoyed their best season in six years is striker Darren Lavery.
The front man had not scored a senior goal at the start of this season however, he is now closing in on 20 and is one of the most talked about up and coming goal-grabbers in the game.
Lavery talked through his career saying: “I joined Berwick almost two years ago and I started in their reserve side that plays in the East of Scotland League. I had been playing at Leith Boys Club after being in the Pro-Youth set ups at Hibs and Livingston.”
Scoring goals is nothing new as Lavery explained: “I used to be a winger when I was involved at Hibs and Livingston but when I went to Leith, they decided to try me as a striker. I scored 56 goals in one season and 58 in the next so the move worked.
“I joined Berwick last season when they were a few games into the season but I still scored 27 goals in that first season for the reserves. I live in Prestonpans so training near Edinburgh and playing for Berwick suits me well.”
It took time for Lavery to establish himself in the Berwick first team as he explained: “Jimmy Crease was the Manager when I first came here but I feel that I never really got a chance under Jimmy. He tended to go with the players that had experience in his first team.
“Ian Little, who is the boss now, was his assistant and he was always looking to include me. Jimmy actually did give me my debut when I got 10 minutes against Alloa in October, 2011 in a game that finished 1-1 but he left not long after that and Ian took over.
“He involved me in the first team about another ten times last season. I enjoyed being in the first team and I saw it as a real challenge and I think I coped well with learning from the other guys that had played a lot more games than I had.”
Little’s long background as a front man helped Lavery as he explained: “Ian was obviously a striker and he has helped me a lot. I was used to playing as one of a two up front but he has spent a lot of time telling me about the runs you need to do and the work you have to put in when you play in the system that we do. I am usually up front on my own now and working with Ian has helped me adapt to that.
“The gaffer has been good with me and although he is quite quiet, he is the type of boss that is always encouraging you rather than having you feel he is picking on you. He can be hard when he needs to be.”
Lavery added: “He is also quick to tell you that he was a striker when he was a player and he reckons he could still play now.”
Little also arranged for the striker to go out on loan to Tranent last season and the skills he honed in the reserves and the Junior ranks helped him get off the mark with his first goal in Black and Gold colours against East Stirlingshire at the back of September.
“I was glad to get that first goal,” said Lavery before adding, “It came with a sense of relief I suppose.”
That goal started a run of 16 goals in 19 games that has included scoring twice at the National Stadium at Hampden and he said: “It was great for me to score there. To even play there is terrific and score twice is incredible.
“In total, I am up to 18 goals in all competitions for the season. Most people think it is only 17 but I scored one against Stenhousemuir in the Scottish Cup that does not seem to have been recorded anywhere but I am counting it.”
Even without the goal against the Warriors, Lavery had already surpassed the target he set himself for season 2012/13 as he explained: “At the start of the season, I would have been happy with 10 or 12 but after the run I had, I want to hit 20 now.
“We seemed to be out of the Play-Offs but then a run of five wins and a draw got us back into things but then three defeats in a row had us dropping out again.
“We have had two big wins recently against Queen’s Park and then Elgin City and now have a huge game with Annan this weekend. Elgin was a must win game as they would have gone above us if they won however, we came back from a goal down to win 2-1.”
Lavery is certainly helping the Shielfield side’s promotion cause as he added: “I scored in those last two which was really good as I had a spell of nearly two months of not scoring. I was struggling with illness and I was not able to get back up to full speed but hopefully, two goals in the last two games have shown that I am back.
“Annan is now a must win and if we do win, it knocks Elgin out of the equation totally. It also leaves Montrose having to overhaul a fairly substantial goal difference that is sitting at 14 in our favour already before our last game of the season.”
The Borderers last game is live on TV as they play Rangers at Ibrox and they would rather have things done and dusted by then with Lavery adding: “Hopefully, a win this weekend would give the boss and everyone else peace of mind before we head to Rangers on the last day of the season. They will be getting presented with the Third Division Championship trophy that day and it will be a bit of a party atmosphere and I am not sure if that would help us chase a win or a draw.
“I have been involved in the three games against Rangers and everyone knows that we should have beaten them in the first meeting. We had a goal chalked off right at the end of the game and no-one is quite sure why.
“I supported them when I was younger so to be playing against them and then also playing at Ibrox was great. The exposure they have brought has been fantastic and they have helped show that there are a lot of decent players in the Third Division.”
The game will also be about the bragging rights in Prestonpans with Lavery saying: “Ian Black just stays a couple of doors away from me and he has always been a good guy in terms of asking after my football career and things like that. He did that when he was with Hearts as well.
“He knows my brother-in-law really well and whenever we are on the same pitch, we are having a bit of banter between us. I can just imagine me running up to take a penalty at Ibrox and ‘Blackie’ shouting at me to miss it and then giving me pelters in Prestonpans if I did.”
Black is not the only Scottish internationalist that Lavery has rubbed shoulders with this season as Scotland captain Darren Fletcher has taken in a few games with Lavery explaining: “Darren’s cousin is our left back Damien Gielty and Darren watched a few of our games when he was out. He will speak away to the boys in the Stand and it is pretty good to say that a Manchester United player has been watching us.”
Lavery keeps himself in shape by not only training with Berwick but by working in a saw mill from seven in the morning to five o'clock at night, five days a week and the demands of his job mean that he is early to bed before games on a Friday.
He explained: “My work is physically quite demanding and it takes a lot out of you. It can be a right hard shift to do that and then train twice a week.
“Friday nights are a case of having my tea and then straight to bed and some people ask me how I can do it but I do it because I want to. Last Saturday at Elgin was a really long day as well as we met at eight in the morning and stopped off at Aviemore for half an hour. We then played and came back down the road and I got home at quarter to eleven.
“Thankfully, that journey was a lot shorter because we had won.”
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