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Leading scorer Ibrahim Olutade is grateful for every opportunity he gets at Tonbridge.
The striker marked just his second Angels start by scoring the clinching goal in a 3-1 National South win over Dorking on Saturday.
Adding to earlier goals from Doug Loft and Tom Parkinson, Olutade took his tally for the campaign to three.
It’s been a promising start to life at Longmead for the 23-year-old, who joined Steve McKimm’s side from Maidstone over the summer.
“I just want to prove myself,” he said. “I’ve not got as many minutes as I would have wanted but I trust Steve a lot so I’ve literally been waiting for my opportunity.
“I’m just trying to make the most of every minute.
“I wasn’t expecting to start on Saturday but I’m always speaking to Steve and I just have to be patient and trust in him.
“I’m grateful for every opportunity I get, I’m happy to have three goals so far and hopefully there will be many more.”
Olutade scored in the opening-day defeat at Ebbsfleet and endeared himself to the home crowd with a 98th-minute equaliser after coming off the bench against Hampton.
Angels fans were cheering again when he ended Dorking’s comeback hopes.
“The fans have been amazing since I’ve been here,” said Olutade.
“The atmosphere was crazy when I scored with the last kick against Hampton, and I was so happy to help the team.
“When I came off on Saturday I had to walk round the goal to get back to the dugout and all the fans were clapping me off and saying well done.
“When I left Maidstone it was a case of starting a new chapter.
“It can be tough when you join a new team, especially getting to know everyone and your team-mates getting to know how you play but everyone’s been really supportive.
“I’ve had to be patient but I’m grateful things are going well.”
Tonbridge are 13th after six games and host fifth-placed Concord this Saturday.
They made a slow start but are four unbeaten, taking four points from Dartford and Dorking in their last two outings.
Olutade said: “The league is important for us because we know there are a lot of good teams and we don’t want to be that club who’s struggling.
“We’ve picked up, we knew the games we had coming up were going to be tough, especially against teams who look like they’re going to be up there.
“People probably looked at Dartford and Dorking and didn’t expect us to get anything but we stayed focused and prepared right.”
