It was a great weekend for Sheffield United's 'Dad's Army' brigade as 32-year-old Paul Peschisolido and 35-year-old Wayne Allison tore Gillingham to shreds last Saturday. The diminutive Canadian helped himself to a hat-trick as the Blades won 3-0 to move onto the shoulders of West Brom in second place. The duo have spent a large portion of the campaign on the bench as Neil Warnock has persisted with younger options but they proved that there was plenty of life left in the old dogs yet with vintage displays to keep United's promotion bandwagon bubbling along nicely. Ian Clarkson caught up with Peschisolido to discuss his three-card trick and whether this could well be the year they return to the Premiership in another givemefootball EXCLUSIVE.
Q:TALK ME THROUGH YOUR THREE GOALS AGAINST GILLINGHAM?
A:They weren't bad although a lot of the credit must go to my partner in crime, Wayne Allison, for at least two of them. The first goal was route one as he won a flick on and I latched onto it and scored. The second goal was after another header by Wayne and the final one was a header from myself - for a small bloke I'm not too bad in the air!
Q:YOU OBVIOUSLY ENJOY PLAYING WITH WAYNE THEN?
A:We always play pretty well together even though most of our appearances in tandem have been for about ten minutes off the substitutes bench this season! I always seem to read his flicks quite well and it paid off at Gillingham. It is probably the oldest strike force in the league as he is approaching 53 and I'm not far behind him! However, we get on well off the park too and he is a really nice lad.
Q:THE SEASON HAS BEEN A LITTLE BIT STOP-START FOR YOU SO FAR HASN'T IT?
A:I am just happy to get a good run of games as I have only started about six this term and managed to score in four of them. t has been a little bit frustrating for me but hopefully scoring a hat-trick will keep me in the team, although I have scored two goals and been dropped before so I am not counting my chickens.
Q:PROMOTION IS STILL THE AMBITION AFTER LAST YEAR'S NEAR MISS THOUGH ISN'T IT?
A:We are still on course as it was heartbreaking last season. We also want to go up automatically as losing in the play-off final is the worst feeling ever. I think our season ended on May 26th last year, which meant it was a dismal three weeks before we started back training again.
Q:EVEN THOUGH IT ULTIMATELY ENDED IN DISAPPOINTMENT, DID YOU ENJOY LAST SEASON'S EXPLOITS - NOTABLY IN THE CUPS?
A:Definitely. It was the most exciting season of my career so far. We reached two semi-finals in two major tournaments and ran both Liverpool and Arsenal close as well as producing a great comeback in the play off semi-final against Nottingham Forest. Even though it hurt at the end I will always remember last season fondly.
Q:HOW MUCH OF A BLOW TO THE CLUB WAS THE LOSS OF MICHAEL BROWN TO SPURS IN THE TRANSFER WINDOW?
A:It was obviously a big blow, but we have a prodigious amount of young talent at this club and it will give somebody else a chance to come in and fill his shoes. Obviously you don't want to lose a player of his quality but Nick Montgomery is a great player and he has had to live in the shadow of Michael a little bit so this is a great opportunity to show us how good he is.
Q:WHAT IS THE SITUATION WITH YOUR INTERNATIONAL CAREER AT PRESENT?
A:It is back on! Frank Yallop has taken charge of the national team and I am in his plans and we have a World Cup qualifier against Belize. If we get through that then we will go into a group of about eight teams for the three qualifying places. Mexico and USA are usually nailed-on certainties to qualify from the CONCACAF region, which leaves us with one other space to go for. It isn't the strongest region in world football, but with a lot of British players appearing for countries like Jamaica then it has made it a tall order to try and qualify.
Q:WHAT ABOUT THIS WEEKEND'S FIXTURE AGAINST WEST HAM?
A:I am looking forward to the game and hopefully I will be playing. My dad is coming over from Canada for a couple of weeks so it would be really nice for him to see me play again. My contract is up at the end of the campaign so I need to keep playing to either earn myself a new deal or keep people aware of me.
