Fit-again Town full-back Kane Vincent-Young has reflected on his 17-month spell on the sidelines and return to action last month as he can finally look to the future with confidence.
Vincent-Young was a revelation following his move from Colchester in August 2019, making his debut in a 5-0 romp at Bolton and scoring twice in his eight subsequent appearances before injury struck in October that year, forcing him to be withdrawn after almost an hour of the 3-1 win at Southend.
He had been absent since then, making his return to first-team action in last month’s 2-1 defeat at Portsmouth, but although he was unable to appear for the second half of the goalless stalemate at Wigan he did recover to complete the entire 90 minutes at both Charlton and Northampton, where Town drew 0-0 and lost 3-0 respectively.
The former Tottenham youngster also missed his side’s 3-0 defeat at Wimbledon but is set to face the same opposition at Portman Road tomorrow as the Blues look to avenge a costly result at their new Plough Lane HQ just 10 days ago.
Vincent-Young said: "Playing back-to-back games for the full 90-plus minutes is obviously a massive positive for me, considering everything that has happened to get to this stage.
"I’ve had a lot of false starts and setbacks so I was absolutely delighted to get through both games. Mentally, it shows that I can do it and not only am I back enjoying my football again, I also look forward to finishing the season strongly.”
It hasn’t been plain sailing for the player that he his return has coincided with a dip in form that looks to have written off Town’s play-off chances. A spell of five games without a goal, never mind a win, seems to have confirmed their League One status for a third season.
He added: "I feel it as well when things are not going well. These guys are not just my team-mates; they are my mates as well, so it is difficult. But from that point of view it’s just about us sticking to our principles and believing in what we are doing.
"In the games that I’ve played the results haven’t been what we wanted, although we’ve seen in patches where we’ve been really effective and there have been some really good bits, so if we can continue that and keep the belief I think we can have a positive end to the season.”
Vincent-Young admitted he had no desire to put his comeback on hold until next season. "I didn’t want that because it would have been too long a wait through the summer until pre-season training,” he continued. "As players we just want to play so I wanted to get back on to the pitch at the earliest opportunity.
"It has been a long road. Last pre-season I was thinking everything was good. I played at Tottenham, which was great, but then I felt my achilles. At the time I wasn’t thinking too much of it — yet I only played my first match of the season in March.
"It is one of those things that you never think is going to happen until it actually happens. You learn not to take anything for granted and realise it’s an absolute blessing to be fit and not just be able to play games but also finish them.”
Vincent-Young recalled how he felt at half-time in the game at Wigan when it was clear he would not be able to reappear for the second half. "That was the very last thing I needed,” he admitted.
"But I’ve got to know my body quite well over this period so I was optimistic that it wasn’t anything too serious.
"Having said that, however, it wasn’t the best way to start back and the best thing for me was to come in for the game at Charlton and seeing it through for the 90-plus minutes was a massive ticked box for me.”