Back to square one! - - The official of Jason Brown

Back to square one! - 18/02/2004

It's been said before...but I'll be back!

After spending around seven weeks out with a thigh strain, it was great to get back between the posts when we faced Burnley at Turf Moor. The result wasn’t what the team and I were looking for, but taking an individual perspective I was happy with my performance. There’s nothing like playing, and sitting in the background going in for physio isn’t the favourite part of my footballing life.

As you’ll know however, we played Gravesend in a friendly on Monday night and after feeling a twinge when I first kicked the ball, my second goal kick resulted in a tear in exactly the same part of the muscle as the first injury. I couldn’t believe it, and although the tear isn’t a big as the original injury, the fact that I’ve already had the same injury in the same place means that I’ll have to be very careful that I don’t rush back.

I’ll spend the next few weeks desperate to get back, but I’ll take the advice of the medical team and try to make sure that I’m not pushing too hard. Frustration can be as big an enemy as the injury itself, and it’s times such as these that you need to put life’s trials and tribulations into perspective. I’m very lucky in that I’m doing a job I love, and ok, I may be out for a few weeks but I know they’d be thousands who’d swap jobs with me! Another point is that my wife and I are expecting a baby boy in the summer, so football doesn’t dominate all my thoughts. It’s a set back but nothing more!