Brewers defender Damien McCrory has revealed that working on his rehab with winger Jimmy Phillips has helped him through the biggest injury setback of his career.
Damien is enjoying being back in first team action after spending six months out after an operation towards the end of last season to clear out cartilage damage in one of his knees.
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He made his comeback in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy tie against Doncaster Rovers back in October, where he managed to get 45 minutes of action, and has since made a full return notching up 100 appearances for the Brewers along the way.
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Damien now feels he is now nearing full fitness again.
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He says: "When you are out for six months, it’s a bit worrying coming back. I had been working hard and my recovery was going well but I had been itching to get back playing and I didn’t expect it to go as well as it has been going. I was put back in and was playing more or less 90 minutes in my second game back and I haven’t really looked back since.
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"I’m still doing rehab as I need to build my strength back up but things are going pretty well.
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"I have never had an injury like that while I have been playing and it was tough."
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Jimmy Phillips has been out injured at the same time as Damien and that has helped them both get through the long rehabilitation process and cope with the frustrations of being out of action.
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Damien says: "If one of us was having a bad day then the other would pick us back up, so I wasn’t on my own through the injury because Jimmy was going through a similar experience.
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"It was his knee as well, so we were doing the same things to get back fit and that was a massive help. It has been a big boost having Jimmy around."