English-born Ghanaian young attacker Jesurun Rak-Sakyi recognised the importance of patience in his development following Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Nottingham Forest.
The Crystal Palace Academy graduate was called upon to impress from the bench in the 26th minute following an injury to Jeffrey Schlupp, and impressed on what was just his fourth Premier League appearance at Selhurst Park.
Celebrating his 21st birthday this week, Rak-Sakyi understands that time is on his side, telling Palace TV: “It was good. I just had to be ready for my time. Today I got the chance and I was happy with the performance today.
“I was just feeling confident because I know we’ve got a lot of injuries and there’s a lot of spaces for me to impress, so I’m just happy that when I came on today, I was able to do as much as I could for the team.
“You’ve got to be switched on all the time. In football, things can change really quickly, so every meeting, everything that we do, you’ve got to be switched on because it could be you on the pitch, like it was me today.
“It’s very different because I’ve been on the sidelines [this season] quite a bit. Last season I was playing a lot, but this is the highest level of football and this is where I want to play, so even me watching is a good experience for me.
“Today, when I came on, it was very good – I just want to build on that.”
The 21-year-old received a tremendous backing from the Selhurst Park faithful throughout, with Rak-Sakyi noting: “It was good.
“It just gives you confidence to get on the ball and do morem so when I heard the crowd cheering, they just wanted me to get on the ball and do something else again.
“You know that they have your back so even if you make a mistake, I know that when I get on the ball again they’ll still be cheering me on, so I just want to get on the ball as much as I can.
“I hoped one of them [my shots] would go in, but I’ll just save that for another day!”
Despite creating several presentable opportunities in the second-half, an injury-hit Palace side were left to be content with a point against a spirited visiting opponent in Forest.
Rak-Sakyi surmised: “We created a lot of chances in the second-half and we looked very dangerous, but we just couldn’t get the goal today.
“It’s good to have that trust from the gaffer because you just want to put in a hundred percent every time you step on the pitch. We’ve been defending really well, three clean sheets in a row, so we just want to keep building on that.”
