Joe Garner has recalled how he scored a hat-trick against Ipswich to take home the match ball — and supporters will probably be surprised to know what happened to it.

Does it sit on a shelf or occupy pride of place alongside other mementos in the striker’s trophy cabinet? Nothing could be further from the truth, as Garner owned up: “It’s in the garden somewhere. My little lad kicks it around out there.

“I don’t go overboard on stuff like that. It was a great occasion when it happened but you move on to new challenges in football and the most important thing right now is Saturday’s game against Preston when we need to get the three points.

“It’s very important we get a win and we spoke about it this morning. We’ll be doing everything we can to beat them.”

Rewind to January 2014 and Garner was in the Preston side that drew 1-1 at Portman Road in an FA Cup third round tie. The replay took place at Deepdale 10 days later with the Lilywhites eventually winning 3-2 in a see-saw affair to book their fourth round place.

The hat-trick ball signed by Garner's Preston team-mates

Garner came off the bench in the 62nd minute, with Town 1-0 ahead through Frank Nouble’s goal four minutes earlier, and he netted twice in quick succession to swing the tie the home side’s way. But David McGoldrick levelled and it was Garner who completed his hat-trick two minutes from the end to clinch victory.

He remembered: “I came on as a substitute that night and when you get a hat-trick — it doesn’t matter who it’s against — you regard it as a bonus. It’s a reminder of good times at Preston and something like that really lifts you as a player and boosts your confidence.

“When I look back on my time at Preston I have a lot of happy memories. I had some really good times there. I also met some good people, made some good friends and enjoyed my time there.

“But none of that matters on Saturday because it will be like any other game in that the only aim is to win it. My time there has been and gone, it’s about the present and getting a win for Ipswich. After Saturday I wish them all the best.”

Garner and his colleagues, with just three wins in their last 11 outings in all competitions, know the importance of winning on Saturday against a team one place above them in the table on the same number of points, 21, and a goal difference of three as opposed to Town’s one.

Garner added: “We’ve spoken about that as a group and it’s a massive game this weekend. We want to win for ourselves and the supporters.

“They’re a great bunch of fans and we have a very good away following too. I’ll never forget that night when we won 4-3 at Millwall in August — that one sticks out — and the fans were in great form.

“We all work very hard to get the results because we know that’s the best way we can repay the supporters for their backing.”

Asked if he could sense fans’ frustrations at the moment he replied: “Maybe a little bit. Obviously, supporters want to win every week, the same as we do. But it’s a tough league and no team is capable of winning all the time.

“We’re in the top half, four points off the top six and we have a game in hand — so it’s not all doom and gloom.

“Supporters want the very best for their team, which in the Championship would be promotion. We started the season really well by winning our first games so maybe that set the bar quite high in terms of expectation but it’s a long season and we still have a lot of games to play.

“Every team’s fans are eager for success, not just ours, but you have to take into consideration things like injuries and suspensions, dips in form by players etc. It’s a long slog and what matters most is where you finish at the end of it.”

Meanwhile, Garner took time out to commiserate with ex-Preston boss Simon Grayson, who signed him and left in the summer to join Sunderland, who sacked him on Tuesday after a 3-3 home draw with fellow strugglers Bolton left them third bottom of the Championship with just one win, at Norwich, in 15 league games.

Garner said: “I know things didn’t go very well for him at Sunderland but I regard Simon as a top, top manager. He won’t be out of the game for too long either; he’ll be back before too long with a new club.

“Apart from being a good manager, he’s also a very nice bloke and I wish him well. We had some good times together.”

Photos: Action Images/TWTD

bobble added 22:56 - Nov 2 we could be in the top 6 but for poor management.
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SouperJim added 08:46 - Nov 3 We could do worse than have Grayson here next season, the malaise at Sunderland runs deeper than the manager and he did a great job at Preston and Leeds.
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