RH: Last season went really well. If you said before the start of the season we’d finish 7th after getting promoted last season & have a chance of the playoffs with a month to go we all would have took that. That little run of 5/6 defeats on the bounce early on in the season affected our league position in the end but overall we were happy with the season & of course to pick up the season with a trophy against my home town team was special. Personally I was happy because I aimed for 20 goals at the start of the season, scored 21 league goals in the end & stayed injury free so overall a good season.

Retirement has been something that apparently you've thought of in the last year or so however you've signed on for another season, what was the reasoning behind this?

RH: I only really considered retirement after the play-offs last season. Only because of the injuries I was picking up. I had a problem with one of my heels which has now luckily been sorted. I had to get some special moulded insoles which I now wear everyday in my shoes. This has cleared the injury up & all the other niggles I was getting have cleared up because of this. I didn’t think about retirement for next season, I spoke to the gaffer he wanted me to stay and I wanted to stay so easy decision in the end!

Do you have any future plans after retirement? Perhaps coaching is on the cards?

RH: No future plans as yet. Probably play as long as my body can do then cross that bridge when I come to it.

Thanks to Rob for lending us his time. Hopley was also asked several questions on our Instagram feed by some of the players. Basically all of them being about the Benidorm holiday!

#UTA