We must be ruthless to beat Grimsby Town – Joe Sbarra

Solihull Moors midfielder Joe Sbarra has said they must be ruthless when they travel to Blundell Park to play Grimsby Town.

The Moors currently sit fifth in the National League and stopped a run of four games without a win when they beat Eastleigh 5-3 on Saturday.

The 23-year-old netted his first professional hat-trick at Damson Park in the victory to end his three-month goal drought and is now looking to add to his tally of 14 league goals for the rest of the campaign, starting on Tuesday (KO: 7:45pm)

Sbarra said: “I’m obviously over the moon as it’s something you dream about as a kid, but when it actually happens it’s quite surreal, I’ve been frustrated as it’s been so long since my last goal so for them all to come at once was a great feeling.

“We’ve got a great group of lads and the character has been shown a lot this season and particularly in the last couple of weeks when we haven’t got the results we would have liked, but we’ve had to dig in and at this part of the season every three points is massive no matter how they come.

“The games are coming thick and fast and we have to again on Tuesday, at this stage of the season, especially with how tight it is you have to be ready for every game as it’s relentless, we’ll need to be solid defensively against Grimsby Town as we conceded some poor goals on Saturday and we’ll have to be ruthless going forward as they don’t concede many goals themselves.

“It’s a tough place to go, they’re right in the mix as well, and it’ll be a very difficult game, but we have to be ready and go again.”

Sbarra came through the academy ranks at West Brom before breaking through at Burton Albion, making 49 appearances for The Brewers in the Championship and League One.

He is hoping his experience will help Solihull Moors gain promotion to the Football League for the first time.

Sbarra added: “Playing in the higher leagues is something I strive to get back to and playing there again, it would mean so much getting promoted as I would have had a big part to play in it too.

“I’ve had a taste of what it’s like and hopefully my experience will help push the boys on and get us to where we want to be at the end of the season.”

Reflecting on his previous spells at West Brom and Burton Albion Sbarra said: "It was great there, (at West Brom) as I'm a West Brom supporter, and playing from the under 9's to under 13's was a great experience, but towards the end I wasn't enjoying my football as much so it was the right thing for me to leave, I have nothing but good things to say about the club and coaches there though, I'd love to go back there and play one day hopefully.

"At Burton Albion, the highlight of my career was playing at the Etihad Stadium against Manchester City in the Carabao Cup, I came on the pitch and I just couldn't believe I was sharing the pitch with some of the best footballers in the world, I managed to get David Silva's shirt after the game too which was amazing."