Ephron Mason-Clark registered more assists (nine) than any other Coventry player this season
For Mason-Clark, 26, things got under way in the seventh tier in 2016 with a brief loan spell in the Isthmian League Premier Division at Metropolitan Police, one month after making his Barnet debut in League Two.
He would go on to play for the Bees for six years, predominantly in the National League, before joining Peterborough United in League One in 2022 and then Coventry in 2024.
“We’ve got a running joke,” Thomas-Asante said. “We say we’ve got our jumpers at home – anyone who’s played National League will know as everyone wears the same jacket before a game.
“So I kept that because I never want to forget the tough times. But I also don’t want to downplay the National League because as we saw with York and Rochdale, the standard is unreal.
“It gets downplayed and it’s not a joke, so to see that, see League Two, League One, the Championship and, god-willing, soon the Premier League is special.”
Given the similar path both Thomas-Asante and Mason-Clark have trodden, it was perhaps somewhat poetic that they both found the net in the final home game of the campaign for Coventry.
They also combined for the opener on that day of celebration with Mason-Clark setting up Thomas-Asante, who was waxing lyrical about his team-mate afterwards.
“I’m a fan of football before I’m a player and the player he has become, he is just unreal,” Thomas-Asante said.
“Even to watch from the other side of the pitch, I had to remember to get in at the back stick.
“He always adds to his game, he’s just becoming inevitable. No one can really stop him.”
Thomas-Asante ended the season with 13 goals and four assists, while Mason-Clark scored 10 goals and registered nine assists.
Only Haji Wright and Victor Torp (both 18) contributed to more goals than Thomas-Asante (17), while Mason-Clark led the way with 19.
Mason-Clark’s output has come as no surprise to Thomas-Asante, who recalled recognising his talent when lining up against him as a youth player.
He said: “It’s funny because when I first joined, he was one of the players where I saw him and I thought, ‘I played against him a lot at academy level, I know he gave some of my mates a tough time’.
“So I just wanted to play with him. And [now] seeing no one in the country being able to deal with it is just an amazing sight.”
Mason-Clark was rewarded for his fine form with an international debut for Jamaica in March.
Meanwhile, the dream season is not over just yet for Thomas-Asante with a World Cup campaign with Ghana to go alongside his Championship winners’ medal.
“I’m really eager to keep my head down, to keep ready, because I’m so passionate about my nation,” he added.
From playing to crowds of fewer than 300 people on occasions seven years ago, Thomas-Asante will feature in front of 70,000 fans at the biggest tournament in world football, against England in the group stages no less.
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