Ikpeazu vows to help Jambos rediscover early form

EUAN McLEAN

HEARTS were top of the league when Uche Ikpeazu was floored by a freak foot injury that ruled him out for five months.

Now he’s back to help haul them back into a race for the top as he reckons the Jambos can get return to their early-season form with their injury woes behind them.

Ikpeazu’s return, coming off the bench for the first time since early October, was one of the high points of Wednesday’s frustrating goalless draw with Livingston at Tynecastle.

But despite boss Craig Levein being disappointed to miss a golden chance to narrow the gap on Aberdeen and Kilmarnock above them in the table, he reckons Ikpeazu’s comeback will prove a key development for his side’s prospects for the rest of the campaign.

And the 23-year-old himself sees no reason why Hearts can’t start rocketing back up the standings with a squad restored to full strength.

Ikpeazu said: “I don’t see why not. I’m not match sharp because I’ve only trained a couple of days but I believe I can get to my best very soon. I believe the team can as well.

“If everyone plays at their optimum I don’t see why we can’t hit the form of earlier in the season. If we win a couple of games anything is possible. It’s down to confidence.

“We’d have challenged for the title if we hadn’t been hit with so many injuries. With the way we were playing we would have been right up there.

“That’s how things happen in football. Injuries are part of the game but I believe we will bounce back.”

For now Ikpeazu is just pleased to sport@dailyrecord.co.uk be back on the pitch after recovering ahead of schedule, with initial assessments warning he could be out for the rest of the season.

After enduring four operations in five years, that would have heaped misery on a guy who hasn’t had his troubles to seek throughout those tough times on the sidelines.

But the Englishman insists he never felt downbeat, thanks partly to his own experience of dealing with injury rehab and the positive messages of the Hearts support.

He added: “At the beginning it was very serious and I was supposed to be out for six or seven months. It is a serious injury.

“In a game against Motherwell one of the centre-backs stood on my foot and it kind of twisted a bit.

“Fortunately all my bones were in place, so that was the advantage. I was able to recover quicker than expected and to be back this quickly is testament to my hard work and the staff around me. I did think my season was over.

“They have to give you the worse-case scenario and the specialist did say my season was more or less finished.

“Injury and adversity makes me stronger and work even harder. You have to be mentally strong. “Social media is a powerful help too. Hearts fans are messaging me saying, ‘We can’t wait to have you back out there.’ When I see them in town they are always encouraging me. That’s motivated me a lot.” And Levein is pleased about it too as he sees the positive influence Ikpeazu will bring to the players around him, with a Scottish Cup clash with junior side Auchinleck next up on Sunday. He said: “With Uche coming back into the team we had a better shape and idea of what we were doing in the final third. He’ll help the team in the months ahead.”