Anthony Wordsworth has reflected on a horrendous spell of inactivity after joining Town from Colchester in January last year.

Wordsworth, sidelined when he cracked three vertebrae on his full debut last season and having suffered minor niggles and bouts of illness this term, is now fully fit and desperate to show he has what it takes to be a regular in the Championship.

He said: “I know I can play at this level. I just needed an opportunity to be put in and for someone to believe in me — but that hasn’t happened. Hopefully I have shown the manager that I can play at this level and he’ll put me in from here on in.

“It feels like a fresh start to be honest. I feel like I’ve just turned up. The last 13 months have been a nightmare really. With injuries and not being involved it has been a bad time for me but hopefully things can change.

“It was a hard time. I lost my fitness and when I did get back the manager put me straight back in, which was nice of him. I scored against Hull (pictured above) and thought I’d done all right.

“But after that I didn’t really get a look-in, which I found difficult. I’ve worked hard and I’ve not moaned. I’ve just got my head down and tried to prove him wrong.

“I say I’ve tried to prove him wrong but I do think he thinks I’m a good player, for whatever reason. But he’s obviously been loyal to the players who have been there from the start for him, so I’ve got to try to kick down his door.”

Wordsworth says he is versatile enough to play as an orthodox midfielder or in a more advanced role, supporting the front men, the position in which the on-loan Jonny Williams is currently cast.

He added: “I’m a central midfielder so I’d like to play in central midfield. The position where Jonny has been playing is where I played for my previous club and I thought I did really well there.

“I scored a lot of goals from that position but it’s going to be hard to move Jonny out of there at the minute because he’s on fire. At this moment in time I’m just grateful to be in the team.”

Wordsworth has also nominated himself to take freekicks, a role that tends to be down to players like Stephen Hunt and Aaron Cresswell at the moment, and would love to add his first goal of the season before the current campaign expires.

He added: “If I can chip in and get a couple it would be nice. For whatever reason the midfielders haven’t been scoring goals but they’re on fire in training so maybe the goals will come from them at some point.

“I’d like to take freekicks but that’s going to be difficult as well because there is good quality in the team. But if one comes along I’ll certainly be trying to take it.”

Wordsworth was told that he was still popular among Town supporters, a number of whom have made it known that he would be in their starting line-up.

He said: “I don’t know much about that but it’s nice to hear if that’s the case. Maybe in the games against Brighton and Derby I showed them a little bit of what I’m about but I’d like more game time to show what I can do. I’ll keep fighting and trying to prove the manager wrong.”

Photo: Action Images

Karlosfandangal added 14:06 - Apr 8 Difficult one that, Do you wait for a player to have a bad game and then drop him, that way you have a inconsitant team, but then how do you give people a chance if the team is doing alright. If Berra had a bad game on Saturday do you drop him for tonight. MM is playing the best team he thinks to get to the play offs, not sure is Wordsworth or some of us fans agree, but he is the manager and its his opinion that counts in the end.

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Lightningboy added 15:16 - Apr 8 He needs to be given a "decent" run in the team. Skuse,Tabb,Nouble,Hyam,Anderson all have.. Stop playing favourites Mick.
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oldelsworthyfan added 15:31 - Apr 8 Lets be fair to MM on this. Woody has suffered injuries and illness, came back and had two very good games against Brighton and Derby. It then appears he was dropped for the Forest game and not even on the bench. Disappointing for both him and his supporters, but on reflection I think MM was probably right to do that. I saw both matches and Woody worked really hard so MM gave him a break. After all, Woody had only just come back from injuries and three games in eight days would not have been right.. At Blackburn MM tried him on the right hand side which did not work, not only because he had to protect Chambers, but also Woody should be playing in the centre of the field. He is one of the few of our players capable of making passes that unlock opposition defences and for this reason could be a star player in our team. Let MM manage him so that he can achieve it.

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Simonds92 added 17:51 - Apr 8 Hopefully now mick can realise he has to split the skuse/Hyam partnership up, both good at what they do but not needed in the same team woody is the only one of our midfielders that looks to create something, I'm yet to see him have a bad game so far and he's been really unlucky in that he's too creative for mick, he may try through balls trying to create opportunities rather than just keep the ball and pass it sideways!

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Hegansheroes added 18:05 - Apr 8 Wordsworths comments underline that all MM wants are players who run around "getting in the oppositions' face". How Hunt, Anderson, Nouble, Hyam etc keep getting games is beyond me. Taylor must be on his way this summer & I expect more signings of pretty ineffective players from MM's past. I along with a considerable number of supporters rarely go now because of the dire football played, how can Brighton pack in the crowds they have & we struggle for 17000, simple answer McCarthy.

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