Kaiyne Woolery had to relearn how to walk after tearing his meniscus last season.
Woolery could make his first appearance of the league season after four months out of action against Exeter this weekend.
Woolery said that he had to take the smallest steps forward to being able to play again after not being able to put any weight on his left leg.
“I had to have an operation on my knee – I tore my meniscus so I was in a brace for six weeks and when I came out of the brace I couldn’t really move my leg, forgot how to walk. I had to learn how to walk again and had to strengthen my leg because I’d lost all the muscle in it so it was just frustrating really.
“It was a lot of hard hours doing double sessions every day but I’m happy that we’ve finally got through it.
“I wasn’t allowed to put pressure on my left leg because I was on crutches all the time, relying on them. Because I hadn’t put any pressure on my left leg in six weeks, I wasn’t confident to put pressure on it, I was doing baby steps. You’ve got to get a bit of confidence and trust yourself.
“I still think I’m fast – I haven’t fully opened up 100% so we’ll have to wait and see. The first week in training I was just thinking about my knee – I still think about it now but I went into a 50/50 with Ellis with my left foot, I came out strong and since then I’ve been tackling everyone, trying to smash everyone in training.”
The striker came off the bench against Plymouth in the Checkatrade Trophy and scored within 20 minutes
“It was brilliant to come back into the mix and get a goal – I couldn’t be happier for myself. It’s been a long four months and I finally see light at the end of the tunnel.
“I was very happy – I don’t know whether you noticed but I was blowing after five minutes! I was on my hands and knees but it was just good to back involved.”
Woolery scored in both ties against Exeter last season, but is simply hoping to be involved first and foremost, over the weekend.
“Hopefully, I’m on the bench, maybe even come on and get another one and help the team. I think we went one-nil up but lost 3-1. You know what you’re going to get with them – Stockley is a big bully so we need to stop him.
“I think you can see our squad is a lot stronger than last year – we’ve got a lot more depth as well so hopefully we can handle it.”
