Fit-again Furman raring to go

DEAN FURMAN: praised Athletic physio Jon Guy.

DEAN Furman is over his injury “nightmare” — and ready to stake a claim back in the first team.

A period of two months out after knee surgery ended this week, with the club captain providing a cameo in the win over MK Dons before putting in a scoring performance at Morecambe in a 60-minute run-out for the reserves.

The 23-year-old may well struggle to get into the starting line-up for tomorrow’s game at Tranmere Rovers (3pm).

But after putting in the graft behind the scenes to be in a position to be selected, Furman is keen to make up for lost time.

“I had that little buzz before playing for the reserves which had been missing for a while,” said Furman, who had surgery to correct a double-tear in his lateral meniscus.

“It was great to get back out there starting a game again.

“The knee has reacted well to a good 60 minutes and hopefully it can kick on from there.

“It has felt like a long eight weeks. I have done a lot of hard work behind the scenes with (club physio) Jon Guy, who has been brilliant. He has kept me, Paul Black, DJ Bembo going, along with all the other boys who have come in and out of the physio room.

“I have to thank him for getting me back fit quicker than was expected and involved with the boys again.

“It has been a nightmare and I hate missing a day of training, let alone a match.

“To be out for so long is tough to take. But it is one of the lows you have to deal with in football.

“There is always someone worse off and you have to stay mentally strong and work as hard as you can to get back as quickly as possible.

“I kept coming into the gym and working as hard as I could so that I wasn’t too far off when I came back to training.

“Hopefully in the next few weeks that will prove worthwhile.

"It won't be easy to get back in the team, but the gaffer wanted competition for places and it can only make us stronger.”

Furman is likely to be on the bench again tomorrow, with James Wesolowski and Tom Adeyemi keeping starting spots after impressing in Monday night’s 2-1 win.

Filipe Morais in the likeliest candidate to replace the injured Reuben Reid up front, having fulfilled that role for most of the Dons game, while Paul Black — back in the shake-up after recovering from a hernia injury — may have to bide his time due to the form of stand-in left-back David Mellor.

Prenton Park holds happy memories for Furman, part of the side which won 2-1 there on the opening day of last season.

“Hopefully we can repeat the scenes of last year when we really took the game to them,” added Furman.

“In my three years here, it is one of the moments that stands out with the great numbers which travelled over to support us.

“The boys will be up for it. We know Tranmere have been doing well and that we are in similar positions in the league.

“But we are not too concerned about them. We are more interested in what we are doing.”

Reid is set to be out for between two and six weeks with a thigh injury, and while Josh Parker may start running late next week he could still be as much as a month away from fitness.