Taking Carey Business

...get back to playing regular football and contributing to the team’s push for promotion.

 

The Irish playmaker picked up a knee injury against Dagenham & Redbridge back in November, keeping him out for the following seven games.

 

Now, though, after a long rehabilitation process, the former Ross County player is ready to pick up where he left off and help the team maintain their lofty place in the Sky Bet League 2 table during the end-of-season run-in. 

 

“It’s finally got to a stage where that I just forget about it now,” said Carey on his injury. “It’s been a frustrating two months, because I was playing a lot, enjoying my football and contributing to the team as well, so being out for the last months has been frustrating.” 

 

“We didn’t think it was as bad as it was, first off, but it was good, in a way. I spent Christmas with my family for once and it was a nice time to get refreshed for the run-in.

 

“I think, if you look at it in a different note, it was a time to get a bit of freshness back in the legs. I’d say I’m at 100% right now; it’s just getting game time, and you don’t really get any of the fitness back in any other games than first-team games. Now I’ve come through 45 [minutes] on Saturday and 60 minutes on Tuesday, so I feel good and ready to go.

 

Graham believes the squad has what it takes to push for promotion - which was the aim of the squad since the very start of the campaign. In the midfielder’s eyes, the team have shown resilience to still be up the top of the league after the injuries the squad has received.

 

“A lot of players have stepped up since the start of the season,” said Carey. “We didn’t use many players at the start of the season and now we’ve used the whole squad so it just shows the recruitment and strength and depth we have.

 

“January is over and we’re all still here, we’re all tight, and we’re ready for the promotion challenge. It’s a frustrating time because lads are going out on loan and lads are coming in on loan; now we have to settle the squad for the rest of the season. Now’s the time to knuckle down and grind out some results and push ourselves back to the top of the table.  

 

“We’re going in the right direction. With the staff, the manager and the coaches we have, I think the only way is forward. The fans have started to come back and we’ve got some big gates this season. 

"I think their support will be crucial over the season and moving forward. You’ve seen teams go promotion-promotion, back to back and there’s no reason why we can’t do that."