Midfielder Teddy Bishop hopes he can make a big impact in the second half of the season having made his first start of the campaign in Saturday’s 2-1 Leasing.com Trophy defeat at Exeter.
Bishop came on as a late sub in the 1-1 draw away against leaders Wycombe on New Year’s Day having suffered medial ligament damage in pre-season in July, then impressed as he started at St James’ Park.
"I’ve only played six minutes really in five months so I was not surprised [I was named in the XI at Exeter], as I’ve been training for a while now, but I was really happy when I found out I was starting,” the 23-year-old said after the match.
"Obviously I need the minutes and to last 75 minutes as I did, that’s the one positive for me.”
He added: "You know what, I actually felt I got better as the game went on, I felt stronger as the game went on.
"That would be because I’ve trained for four weeks now, I’ve got it in my legs I just need that match sharpness back and hopefully I can get that back in the next few weeks.”
Bishop says he tried to be positive from the start of the match: "I said to myself before the game just get on the ball and try and make things happen, that’s always what I’ll try and do.
"I started quite well, I thought, got on the ball quite a lot and maybe died out for a little bit and then my second-half performance I thought I did OK.
"When you come back from injury you can’t tip-toe around and hope you don’t get injured again. If you get injured again, you get injured again.
"You’ve got to go for it, you’ve got to play to 100 per cent, so that’s what I tried to do.”
He added: "I said to myself before the game, ‘Go out there, there’s no pressure, you’re coming back from injury, just have a go. Just run at people, beat people, try and make things happen’ and on another day we could have had a few goals.”
Was it the plan to play an hour or so? "It wasn’t really a plan, I think they were just going to see how I went, so the fact that I have got 75 minutes under my belt is really pleasing.
"There was talk of maybe just doing the first 45 minutes and seeing how I felt in the second half, but to play what I did, that’s good for me.”
The Cambridge-born schemer says he has confidence in his knee: "Touch wood. I’ve felt really good since I’ve been back training. I’ve felt nothing, no niggles anything.
"I’ve done a lot of work, it’s been really tough for the last few months but that should hold me in good stead for the next few weeks.”
Quizzed on whether he feels fit enough to start against Accrington in League One next week, he said: "Obviously it’s up to the manager. It’s how I recover in the next couple of days, get a good week’s training in me and I’ll be ready for selection whether it’s on the bench or whatever I don’t know.”
Asked whether fans may have to be patient with him as he gets back to his best, he said: "I don’t know about patience, when I play I need to put in performances and hopefully today is a start and I can just get more minutes and more minutes.”
Reflecting on his frustrating first half of the season, he admits it’s not been easy but says it could have been worse.
"It would have been tougher for me if it had been a recurring injury, like another hamstring or something,” he said.
"The thing that’s got me through is the fact that I slipped, it could have happened to anyone. I slipped and hurt my knee. I’ve never had a knee injury before, never had a knee problem before, it could have happened to anyone.
"Obviously it was so tough at the start but after the first few weeks I just said to myself, ‘Look, you’ll still have half a season to play’, and that’s what I need to do now.”
Reflecting on sustaining the injury, in the 33rd minute of the friendly against hosts SV Meppen at the Interwetten Cup, he said: "I couldn’t believe it. We were out in Germany, I’d come back from the off-season really fit, I thought I was flying in pre-season, I felt really good and for that to happen I thought, ‘It’s just my luck, isn’t it?’.
"But you can’t dwell on it for too long, you have to just knuckle down and get on with the rehab and go again.”
The injuries which hampered him during the four previous campaigns following his breakthrough 2014/15 season were mainly related to his hamstrings and he says he has had no issue with them for some time now.
"I played the last six months of last season with no problems at all, so I do think I’m over all that. I’m a lot stronger in my body now than I was back then,” he said.
"When I was picking up that injury I was 19, 20. I’m 23 now and I’m a lot stronger and I feel like I can cope with the demands of playing week in, week out. I think I showed that last year. It’s just getting back to that now.”
Has it been a case on working on strengthening that area of your body? "You have to maintain your hamstring and your calf, you maintain that strength throughout the year. But obviously this was different, this was about restrengthening the knee, but I’ve never had a problem with a knee before, so it was something new for me.
"I’ve just done a lot of work in the gym and I’ve been outside for a good while now and my knee’s felt strong the whole time. Credit to the physios who have all worked really well with me and it’s just time to kick on.”
Looking back to the second half of last season he says he was reaching top form despite the team’s struggles.
"I felt that was nearly back to my best then,” he recalled. "I felt like I was playing well. Obviously the team was suffering so it was tough for everyone, but I felt like I was getting back to my sharpest there.
”I feel sharp now, I’ve trained for the last four weeks, I’ve trained consistently so hopefully I can just play games now.”
In addition to Bishop, Freddie Sears also made his first start of the season at Exeter after his ACL injury.
"That helped as well, we’ve done a lot of our rehab together,” the midfielder said. "He was slightly ahead of me in that he had played a couple of [U23s games] but he’ll be a massive boost for the team.
"We’ve missed Freddie’s pace, his experience and his finishing. Hopefully he can get back in it and score some goals.”
Similarly a number of his team-mates have said how Bishop’s attributes will give the Blues something they haven’t had so far this season in the second half of the campaign.
"I suppose I am different in that I will just get the ball and try and beat people,” he said. "Maybe I might play further forward now, maybe in the 10 role. I haven’t really played that role much.
"Last year we played in a three and I wasn’t really a number 10. Maybe if I can play that role, anywhere I play I’ll try and influence the game and hopefully have a big impact in the second half of the season.”
Reflecting further on the number 10 role, he added: "I played there as a kid but when I first broke into the first team we played 4-4-2 a lot so I never really played there, so it is definitely a role I would love to play.
"But if I’m playing anywhere on the pitch I’m happy, it doesn’t really matter to me.”