Irish Daily Mirror

The Knight mare ends for Jason

- BY MICHAEL SCULLY

JASON KNIGHT is relieved to put some lonely days behind him after recovering from the ankle injury he suffered in a training ground tackle from Wayne Rooney.

Derby County’s boss injured the Ireland midfielder in what was described as a 50-50 tackle in pre-season training at Pennyhill Park in the last week of July.

Six weeks on, Knight made his season bow last Friday night when he came off the bench for the final 10 minutes of the Rams’ 2-0 defeat to Birmingham City in the Championsh­ip.

It has felt like a long wait for the 20-year-old Dubliner, who played over 50 games between September of last year and June for club and country, including three of Ireland’s last

four internatio­nals.

“It’s been great to be back around the lads,” Knight told Ramstv. “It’s been a bit of a journey to come back but it’s good to be here now.

“To have a longer sort of injury is something new for me.

“Especially coming early in pre-season as well, you set goals and aspiration­s for the season ahead and it gets cut short a little bit but you have to put it behind you and move on.

“It’s not great when you first suffer an injury but you get over it and get on with it. You just have to make sure you come back as ready as possible and that’s what I’m trying to do now.

“It’s quite a lonely place being injured. You’re not really around the team or the staff as such but it’s something you’ve got to do if you want to get back out there as quick and healthy as possible.”

 ??  ?? TRAINING TACKLE Derby manager Wayne Rooney
TRAINING TACKLE Derby manager Wayne Rooney
 ??  ?? SEASON STARTS NOW Midfielder Jason Knight
SEASON STARTS NOW Midfielder Jason Knight

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