STRIKER Louis Moult is raring to go for Burton Albion having worked his way back to fitness - and is ready to put in plenty more hard work for the Brewers fans.
The summer signing had enjoyed a productive pre-season but a freak ankle injury in our pre-season friendly at home to Leicester City has kept the 29-year-old sidelined for the start of the 2021/22 season.
Moult has been putting in the hard yards behind-the-scenes in his recovery and rehab, working closely with head physio Nick Fenton and Senior Sports Therapist Joel Ward to get back to fitness.
“Fents has been brilliant with me, as well as Joel," said Moult.
"The medical department have been really good and the staff too, showing me support, telling me not to rush.
“I can’t play until January - so we gave ourselves that amount of time to prepare the body and get ready for then. It was tough mentally and physically it was a sore one but luckily I’ve got there now, and we’re looking forward.”
The former Motherwell and Preston North End striker was withdrawn from our Birmingham Senior Cup clash at Nuneaton Borough a fortnight ago as a precautionary measure and his recovery is unaffected, with Moult straight back into training.
“To be fair I felt a little bit of a twinge in the warmup,” Moult said.
“A few years ago I’d have played and risked it but I didn’t want to - Fents agreed and it was the right decision.
“I was back in training next day or two so right decision - a slight tweak and that was it, it went away two days later."
Moult has had to be patient but January opens up the chance for the striker to be added to our 25-man squad once the registration window opens again on January 3.
And manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has spoken regularly about Moult and his recovery when asked in press conferences, before and after games.
“It’s like that first week of August for me,” said Moult, looking ahead to the new year.
“It’s important I keep training and building fitness and confidence - because the minute I step out on that pitch you’ll see a big smile on my face.
“We’ve tried to take it a day at a time and keep working hard behind the scenes.
“There’s been times where I’ve not had the best day, and everyone has an off day, but coming home and going on social media and that gaffer had mentioned me in his press conference was a massive boost.
“He’s spoken to me privately too. It spurs me on to work even harder and I’ve got to repay that faith that the gaffer, his staff and the Chairman (Ben Robinson) have put in me.”
Moult has worked on his rehab with fellow striker Tom Hewlett, who suffered two very serious injuries in 2021 but has impressed Moult, and his fellow teammates, with his dedication to getting back to fitness.
“We’ve bounced off each other a lot,” Moult said of Hewlett. “Doing rehab before, I was on my own a lot.
“It’s difficult because you need that banter and competition to keep you going, and Tom was brilliant for that.
“He works brilliantly hard and I’m sure he’ll be fine in his recovery.
“Credit where it’s due too - he’s a little beast! He works very hard.”
Moult’s entire focus now is getting back on that pitch and building up his match sharpness - as well as playing competitively in front of the Brewers fans for the first time.
“The fans as well, have been so patient with me so I’ll continue to work as hard as I can for them,” said Moult.
“I’ve been in full training for three weeks, something like that. We’re fast approaching January, it’s probably 9-10 days until I can play.
“I won’t be match fit straight away but the only way that’s going to happen is with minutes.”