Nathan Thompson was thrilled to be back in the thick of the action on Saturday and was encouraged by Town’s display in the 1-1 draw with Fleetwood Town.
The skipper made his long-awaited return from injury yesterday and now wants his side to build on their performance against the Cod Army as they look to breathe new life into their season heading into 2017.
“It has been a long time. It has been six weeks out and it has been difficult, especially with some of the results that we’ve picked up,” he said.
“It felt good, at times my legs were a little bit heavy and my mind wanted to do certain things that my mind wouldn’t allow but there were encouraging signs on Saturday.
“I was very happy with the hamstring and I had a full weeks training. I was probably back in training at the back end of last week but Sheffield United came too soon and you learn from the mistakes you’ve made previously, so I had a good weeks training and the hamstring felt sweet.
“I was really happy with the performance as well and I felt first-half was a little bit up in the air, end-to-end and it got away from us a bit but second-half I felt we controlled it and Tim (Sherwood) came in at the end to say it is the best he has seen at this level in terms of controlling possession.
“I think there are a lot of positives to take from that and we go into a hectic Christmas schedule now and the boys have bounced back after a disappointing result last weekend, that is a sign of character.
“I felt we used the space in behind their full-backs and wing-backs really well and Luke (Norris) and Jermaine (Hylton) were superb for us.
“We mixed it up a little bit and I was really happy.
“The fact that Fleetwood are seventh in the table and they have come here and are over the moon at time wasting from the start of the second-half shows the dominance that we had.
“It is frustrating of course that we haven’t picked up the three points but we’ve got a busy schedule and if we can continue to perform like we did on Saturday then I have no doubt over the next couple of games that we can start picking up results and go on a little run.”
Thompson was also full of praise for Jermaine Hylton, who returned to the Starting XI against Fleetwood to produce an accomplished display upfront.
“You see it every day in training and he’s got ridiculous talent but it is just making sure he’s fit and that has been difficult for him,” Thompson added.
“If he can produce performances like that then he’s going to be a massive player for us, especially in Jon Obika’s absence.”
Thompson has also looked ahead to Town’s Boxing Day fixture away at Millwall and the captain is looking forward to the encounter with the Lions.
“You know the sort of atmosphere that you are going to get at Millwall but we’re looking forward to it and it will be the first time I would have played there so I’m certainly looking forward to it,” he continued.
“This result and this performance will give us the confidence to go there and there is no reason why we can’t start a little run.
“I said to the boys in the huddle on Saturday that the last five months has been a complete waste in the sense that the results we’ve picked up have been littered with bad performances and we’ve found ourselves at the bottom of the table, but we’ve still got half a season left.
“If we really want to achieve anything then it starts now.
“We saw a little bit of that today.”
