Sorba Thomas is taking nothing for granted as he heads into the biggest game of his career and Huddersfield Town's season with a shot at the Premier League on the line
The latest Huddersfield Town news straight to your inbox daily
Huddersfield Town’s summer recruitment looked to have enhanced their backline and added some depth, but as a few bookies’ pick for relegation the reasoning came down to one thing; they lacked an x-factor. There were hopes Josh Koroma could find his best again but creativity was still the worry.
What few realised was the spark they needed was already in the squad. Sorba Thomas arrived in January from Boreham Wood and had spent the early part of his Terriers career learning to be a professional footballer. By summer he was ready to show them more than that and after an excellent pre-season he was given a chance to shine in the first team. It’s fair to say at this point he took it.
14 assists in all competitions, three goals, and nearly 4,000 minutes of football played this season, Thomas has become Town’s go-to man in tight games, open games, and everything in between. As well as being one win from the Premier League he is also another away from qualifying for a World Cup potentially with Wales. A meteoric rise, but it hasn’t always been like this.
Read more: Jonathan Hogg feels 'special' Huddersfield Town better equipped for play-off final than 2017
After being let go from youth terms by West Ham Thomas found himself fitting football around work. As he discovered though there was only one place his heart actually wanted to be: “When I first went to Boreham Wood I was working at JD Sports in Oxford Circus, I was there for a year – I did not like that at all. You get all different types of customers that in your head you’re thinking… I really need to make it as a footballer, I can’t do this every week!
“There was a little football floor upstairs and soon as they found out I played they sent me upstairs – because I played football apparently I had all the knowledge in the world about football boots, it was crazy. Then I got into doing a bit of scaffolding and then towards the end I was doing a bit of coaching at the club and now here I am.”
Whilst that job at JD may have been one he didn’t like, scaffolding was the one that he had to have some character for. “I thought here was cold but when you do scaffolding, 6 o’clock in the morning and it’s freezing… I did not enjoy that all,” said Thomas. “It was another one that made me think I need to make it as a footballer … It was cold mornings, 6am to six or seven o’clock at night, long days, I just felt like 'I can’t do this the rest of my life, I need to be playing in big stadiums and tournaments', and it is a massive moment in my career on Sunday.”
Keeping the faith that his time would come wasn’t always easy but he knew he had a chance: “I always believed, when you look at the success stories of Jamie Vardy, Michel Antonio, Tyrone Mings that came from non-league you have to always believe, I thought my time would come, Huddersfield took the risk taking me from there and I’m repaying them by hopefully helping them into the Premier League.”
The Terriers are now one game away from promotion after a third-place finish in the Championship thanks in no small part to Thomas’ form. If he can cap off his year with a win on Sunday, a good start in the Premier League, and a trip to the World Cup it may not just be Jamie Vardy people are writing film scripts about.