Matty Pearson says that leaving Blackburn Rovers was the best thing for his career and he’s hoping to show the club he spent his youth with how he’s improved.
The Luton defender signed for the Lancashire outfit when he was nine and progressed through the youth teams to the reserves, but he never made it into the then Premier League first-team at Ewood Park and was released while injured at the age of 19.
A spell at Rochdale followed where he made his professional debut, but it was a move to the non-league with Halifax where he cut his teeth, playing part-time and working as a garage door fitter.
Pearson said: “It was probably the best thing for me to get out of there and go play Conference and Conference North football. It worked for me.
“At the time, I didn’t think it was, but looking back now, I think it was the right decision to get out and get playing. It’s done me the world of good, leaving when I was a young age and going to play first-team football.
“To get back to the league that they’re (Blackburn) at, in itself, I think I’ve done reasonably well. I’m just really looking forward to it.
“It will be my first time going back but it was a long time ago now, six or seven years ago. Things have changed now, haven’t they? I’ve got no bitterness; it will just be nice to go back.
“Blackburn are a Premier League team really. All through me growing up, they were always in the Premier League. Maybe they should be in the Premier League now.
“They should be at least looking to get back there. They’re one of the top teams in our division so it will be a tough game for us.”
Town travel to Rovers on the back of three straight defeats in all competitions, conceding ten goals in three games.
The defender said: “In any level of football, you don’t like to lose games. You just take that hurt into the next game and use that to get a positive result.
“Coming up a level, you know it’s not going to be easy, but that’s irrelevant really. I think, in general, you don’t want to lose games.
“A couple of weeks ago we’d just won two games on the bounce, so it’s going to change quickly. Everyone in the club is looking to rectify mistakes.
“As a defender, that’s what you pride yourself on, a good defensive record. As of late, it’s not happened but last year we had a good defensive record and we know we can do it.”
