Brennan looking to get back on ball

[George]

02 December 2003 09:03

Summer signing Jim Brennan is now hoping to make up for lost time after missing almost half of his first season at Carrow Road through injury.

Over four months of frustration came to an end on Saturday when the Canadian international finally made his competitive debut for the Canaries – and having come through the game with no problems the City new-boy is looking forward to the future with renewed confidence.

Manager Nigel Worthington had indicated beforehand that Brennan would be eased back gently in a reserve fixture later this month. But the player's progress in recent weeks had been so encouraging that he was thrown in at the deep end against Crewe – and having tasted 23 minutes of first team action the left-sided midfielder is now eager for more.

"I know it was a surprise to some of the supporters that I was in the squad on Saturday and it was a bit of a surprise to me to be honest," said the former Nottingham Forest star.

"I'd had a really good couple of weeks in training and played in a practice match at Colney without feeling the injury but I thought I'd have to bide my time.

"But the manager called me in and said I would be on the bench against Crewe. Needless to say I was delighted – and even more delighted when I actually got on the pitch. It was great to finally play in a competitive game and I was pretty pleased with the way it went.

"I saw quite a lot of the ball and I caught one really well near the end, but unfortunately the shot went just wide. It would have been nice had that one gone in, but I wasn't complaining afterwards. It was good to be back and, most importantly, we picked up the three points."

It was the first time Brennan had stepped out at Carrow Road since playing the first half of City's prestige friendly with Tottenham on July 22. Shortly afterwards he started feeling pain from a thigh strain he had picked up in an earlier warm-up fixture, and it wasn't long before he was also experiencing problems with the abductor muscle in his hip.

"It was really frustrating because as a footballer all you want to do is play," he said. "I'd had a few niggles over the course of my career but nothing like this. In fact when I was at Nottingham Forest I hardly missed a single match through injury.

"The timing could hardly have been worse. Like all players at a new club I was desperate to show everyone what I could do but because of the injury I just wasn't getting a chance."

Months passed without any apparent progress, but Brennan has come on in leaps and bounds recently and now feels he is ready to make a real contribution to the cause.

"I'm not feeling the injury any more and hopefully it's behind me now," he said. "It's now a case of building up my match fitness because I'd gone a long time without a game before the weekend.

"The lads have done an excellent job this season and now I want to be involved, that's goes without saying.

"I feel I've got a lot to contribute and hopefully I'll be involved again at Millwall next week. All I can do is work hard in training and see what happens."

Brennan was called into the squad at the weekend because of concerns over the fitness of Paul McVeigh, who was playing his third game in the space of eight days after taking a painful knock on the back of the knee against Watford last month.

The 26-year-old Canadian was given his big chance when the diminutive frontman was withdrawn as a precaution – and could well have a similar role to play at the New Den on Saturday.

"Jim has worked very hard recently and it was good to see him playing again at the weekend," said Worthington. "As we all know we haven't got the biggest squad and it's a bit like having a new signing to call on."

[strobe_z]

let's hope this carries onto the MNT... it's about time we got Brennan back.