Give me hard graft please
Eckersley wants gaffer to beef up his workload
Adam Eckersley has asked boss Oran Kearney to ramp up his workload in a bid to return to the St Mirren fold as soon as possible.
The Englishman, 33, has been missing for the whole of the Buddies’ Premiership campaign having gone under the knife to finally sort a troublesome Achilles injury which had plagued him for the best part of 18 months.
The left back has been back training now for a fortnight as he bids to get himself back up to full fitness.
However, he insists he is under no illusions that there is still a lot of work to be done before he will be in contention for a return to the first team – work that he is more than prepared to put in.
Eckersley told Express Sport: “I went to speak to the manager on Monday and I have asked for extra sessions during the week.
“Basically I will have only one day off a week to help me catch up quicker. I am just trying to catch up with everybody as quickly as possible.
“The ankle is getting better but I am still a bit off it. I am a bit behind everybody because they have a good four months on me.
“I am not putting myself under any pressure. I had quite a bad injury but my ankle is feeling great.
“I am just taking it day by day to be honest. There are days where I feel good in training and there are days when I am off the pace.
“I need to get back to my consistency and start to feel like the player I was.
“It was meant to be a six to eight week injury, I was back after five weeks. That was good but I am still a little bit behind with fitness and sharpness.
“The first week I was back was very easy because I was on a high coming into training.
“Now I have been back a week, I have sort of flatlined a little and realise my fitness is lacking.
“That is on me. I worked as hard as I possibly could in the gym with the physio but nothing will ever replicate being out there with the ball. “That’s what I need now.” Eckersley was a staple in the side that stormed to the Championship title last season, turning out on 24 occasions for the Saints.
But he admits now that he wasn’t playing at 100 per cent as he battled with the injury – which was originally misdiagnosed.
What he thought was Achilles problems turned out to be an issue with a sharp piece of bone on his ankle – a condition known as footballer’s ankle.
This was stopping him from bending it properly.
Eckersley said:“My Achilles is brand new again and it is just a matter of getting familiar on the pitch.
“It is all about coming back and fighting for that spot.”