Airdrie v Queen’s Park: Diamonds cure Lewis Strapp’s homesickness as he opens up on short stint in Finland
Lewis Strapp acknowledges that he experienced homesickness while in Finland and expresses the hope that he could be the missing component that keeps Airdrie in the Championship.
In last week’s 3-0 victory over relegation rivals Dunfermline, the 25-year-old defender, who joined the Diamonds at the beginning of January, led his new team to a clean sheet and all three points, ending Airdrie’s incredible 19-game league winless streak.
Strapp is excited to be back in his native Scotland after spending six months in Finland with top flight team SJK Seinäjoki, where he helped them qualify for the UEFA Europa Conference League. He has set his sights on turning around Airdrie’s fortunes as they attempt to recover a 10-point deficit at the bottom of the table.
“I jumped at the chance to go to Finland and I did love it over there,” the former Morton left-back stated. I learned a lot from the Scottish gaffer, Stevie Grieve, who was very knowledgeable.
However, I guess I felt homesick. I simply missed the atmosphere of the locker rooms and life outside of sport.
Perhaps it wasn’t as nice over there as I had anticipated. I simply missed Scottish football and its sense of community and camaraderie.
“Coming home was really alluring since everyone is competitive and aggressive in their game-playing style, which wasn’t the case in Finland.
After missing the 5-1 victory over Dumbarton in the Scottish Cup on January 18, Strapp made his debut in a 2-1 loss to Livingston on January 14 before playing 64 minutes of the victory over the Pars. He has since set his sights on more points in Saturday’s visit from Queen’s Park, saying, “I’m a fresh player in there who hasn’t been used to losing games so maybe that can help. That’s two games in a row we’ve got a win and hopefully we can build on this.”
“There are still a few things we can get better at with a few tweaks, but we are just trying to understand what we are trying to do,” Strapp said after the victory over Dunfermline.
The boys are ecstatic because it was the club’s first victory in a long time, and we are now anticipating Saturday. All we have to do is keep building. A tiny bit of self-assurance may make a big impact.
“It’s also fantastic to score three goals and have a clean sheet. The boys are working really hard, and that’s why I’m here to help us acquire clean linens.
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