Doherty thought season was over after injury (From Bucks Free Press)

Doherty thought season was over after injury

11:19am Wednesday 13th March 2013 in Sport By Andy Carswell

GARY Doherty admitted he didn't think he'd get another game this season after a four month lay-off through injury.

The Wanderers club captain made a goalscoring return to the side as he grabbed a late equaliser against Rotherham in his first game since November.

Doherty jarred his back during the FA Cup exit to Crewe and after no improvements to the problem he was forced to undergo an operation.

In the meantime bad weather left the former Ireland international without a reserve team game to build his fitness up ready for a first team return.

He said: "I've been training for the last four weeks but haven't been able to get a game. We've had so many [first team] games ourselves and pitches have been so bad, no one wants to get a reserve game on, so it has been difficult.

"I've been unfortunate we haven't been able to get any reserve games on. The one game I did get on, I got injured in the first five minutes with a head injury.

"Without getting reserve games I thought, 'I'm not going to get a game - there's no way I can push for the first team if I haven't played reserve games'. That was the most difficult part. I'm thankful I got a little run out tonight and we'll see how it goes

"I thought my season was over because things weren't going for me."

Doherty was only involved in the squad last night with Kortney Hause and Anthony Stewart injured and Leon Johnson unavailable due to what Wanderers boss Gareth Ainsworth described as a family issue.

He then got a run out when Dave Winfield, who has had the captain's armband in Doherty's absence, went off with a pelvic injury.

And the 33-year-old said the amount of time he was on the pitch for was just about perfect.

He said: "There's only so much running you can do in training but 20 minutes was ideal. I don't feel too bad.

"It's obviously nice to get a run out now and getting a goal is a massive bonus."

Comments are closed on this article.