Charlton Athletic star puts West Ham 'frustration' behind him to shine

Conor Coventry found himself frustrated by stop-start loan spells while a West Ham player but the midfielder is now thriving as a regular for League One play-off hopefuls Charlton
Twenty days ago Charlton went to Adams Park and put four past Wycombe to derail the Chairboys' hopes of automatic promotion. But Conor Coventry insists neither side will read too much into that when the first leg of their play-off semi-final gets underway this evening.
The Addicks' midfield general is expecting a tough test at the end of a gruelling season in which he has started all but two of their games. And Coventry, voted by his team-mates as their player of the season, reckons the key to a place at Wembley a fortnight from now could rest on humility.
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'We're buzzing, it's something we've been looking towards for a while,' the Ireland international says. 'But it's a new game.
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'We can take confidence from it (the 4-0) and we've beaten them twice but the main thing is to keep humble as a group and know that game doesn't count for anything. It's a level playing field and we've basically got to start from the bottom again.'
For Coventry this has been a season of discovery following several campaigns of gradually increasing discontent. While the path to regular first-team football at West Ham, whom he joined aged 10, became increasingly difficult to progress down, a series of loan moves left him struggling to find a rhythm.
'There had always been a frustration because I'd play somewhere for six months and I'd be waiting again,' he said. 'It was very stop-start and it was hard to get my career on track and really get going. It was the main attraction for me coming to the club.'
Nathan Jones' arrival as the new Valley boss two games after Coventry signed midway through last season threatened to throw another curveball into the mix. But an early conversation settled any concerns with Jones placing a faith in Coventry that he had not felt from previous coaches.
'I've loved the trust the manager has in me. When we spoke when he first came in he said he would make me more well-rounded as a player. Everyone knows the intensity and passion he has but it's his attention to detail that drives standards.'
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Last summer Coventry travelled to Tennessee to take in some country music and once he had enough of the honky-tonks he made the eight-hour drive to the site of JFK's assassination. When he joined West Ham, his mum sought assurances that he would continue his education and he focused on the American president's death as part of his A-Level in history.
'It was strange being there,' he says. 'When you're down on the road everyone's moving on, which feels surreal.'
No such jaunts have been put in place yet for this off-season, but Coventry hopes a club that he thinks belongs in the Premier League is at least back in the Championship.
'I've been waiting to book something, hoping we can do the business. We have huge respect for the other teams but we believe we can do it.'
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