Wat a joy to be back playing – Dunc

JACK Ross hailed it a ‘massive step forward in his recovery’ after Duncan Watmore came through his most demanding test yet.

The forward played 78 minutes of the Black Cats’ FA Cup secondround replay against Walsall, although he was unable to help his side avoid a 1-0 defeat.

However, on a personal level, it was a triumph for Watmore.

The 24-year-old had made his senior comeback the previous week, playing just over 65 minutes against Notts County in the Checkatrade Trophy, but the game against Walsall DUNCAN Watmore says his reintroduction to Sunderland’s first team has gone as well as it could have – and has thanked Jack Ross for taking a patient approach.

The Black Cats forward recently returned from the second of two cruciate knee ligament injuries which together sidelined him for virtually two years, with only a brief window of half a dozen games between the two problems.

The 24-year-old made his senior comeback in the Checkatrade Trophy game against Notts County last week before playing in the FA Cup second round replay against Walsall this week, Ross planning to involve him in the squad for Saturday’s league game against Bristol Rovers at the Stadium of Light.

Watmore said: “It has been a very, very long time on the sidelines and it has been a tough time.

“I have to be patient with myself because it is going to take me a while to get back to where I was preinjury.

“It is going to take a long, long time because that intensity is so different and there is that rustiness after being so long out but I feel, in terms of the rehab, it has gone as well as it could have. “The club have been brilliant, we have been extra patient and the lads are doing brilliantly. It is all going well in that respect and long may it continue.”

Of Ross, he added: “He has just was another proposition entirely. Ross said: “Once the rawness of the loss settles then Duncan is the major positive for us.

“Seventy five minutes is a good chunk of the game and at a far greater intensity than the Checkatrade Trophy game.

“I thought he did really well considering.

“It is a huge absence he has had and he felt it physically in the second half - but to get that under his belt was a massive step forward in his recovery.”

Ross said earlier this week that, been brilliant, he has been patient and he has managed me well.

“He is attacking, he is a really good coach to work under and is intelligent – as are his coaching staff.

“It has been brilliant and playing exciting football is something I like playing, across any of the top three positions.

“We are at a stage where we can kick on and hopefully play more.

“I still have to manage it carefully and I keep needing to remind myself that.

“I don’t know the plan yet for Saturday. I will speak to the guys and see what the gaffer wants.

“The FA Cup game was a different intensity from the Checkatrade and after so long out it was tough.

Watmore accepts there is still a long road ahead before he is back to his best – but he is just grateful to be back playing once more.

He said: “I have been so lucky with the fans and how they have treated me and their appreciation for me.

“I love them and I am very grateful to be playing at a club as big as this and great as this.

“I will always try and give my best. It will take me a while to get back to being as sharp and as quick and being able to do it repeatedly, like I used to be able to do.

“I am desperate to get back to that level but I need to be patient. “I would just say thanks for all the support I have had because they have been brilliant, as have the players and everyone in and around the club.” assuming Watmore came through the Walsall game without any problem, he would be in the frame this weekend for his first league outing since his return when Bristol Rovers visit Wearside.

Watmore can operate out wide or as a central striker.

It is in the latter role he has featured since returning to the first team, Ross believing that role is physically easier on the former England under-21 man as he eases himself back into action.

Ross added: “I think he is more than capable of playing through the middle. I also think that where he is at in his recovery and within games, rather than asking him to continually shift up and down the wide areas, it was the sensible thing to do in those two games.

“It is that balance between the duty of care we have to him in his recovery and how we best use him in games.

“Within that area of the pitch of he gives us something different and you saw that.

“He offered a threat and that increased sharpness will come with each passing game as well.”