O'Halloran ready to prove his worth

31 December 2010 11:40
Defender back after injury. When Stephen O'Halloran made his switch from Aston Villa to Coventry City in the summer, he did not consider it would take until Christmas before he made his competitive debut for the club. His Villa career was blighted by a serious knee injury, but he had hoped injuries were a thing of the past and the move to Coventry would see him playing regularly, but a freak injury in pre season saw him miss the first half of the season. He made his debut last Tuesday against table topping QPR having previously played games in the pre season workout in Austria, but suffered a back injury in the friendly at Nuneaton. City boss Aidy Boothroyd bought O'Halloran into his squad because he advocates the attacking full back type of play and O'Halloran is just this type of player. O'Halloran was delighted to be playing again and is now determined to keep his place in the team. As an attacking left back, he ought to be a regular in the side as this is a position where there is little competition. “It has been a long while now and I was just glad to be back on the pitch after my back injury,” said the 23 year old O'Halloran.  “It has been hard mentally because when I was first came I was full of energy and wanted to hit the ground running but these things happen and you just have to try to stay positive. We have got a great bunch of lads here and they kept me going.” He suffered a prolapsed disc in his back during the Nuneaton game and the recovery has been slow and frustrating. // '); // ]]> “Whatever happened in that game it was literally after that when I just stiffened up. It is the sort of thing that can happen to anyone just walking down the street." “I slipped a disc and it was pushing into my sciatic nerve as well so it was a similar problem to the one John Terry had. I had a lot of physio to get it right. An operation was an option but I wanted that to be a lest resort really because you don’t really want to be going down that road unless you have to." “It is a slow process because there is not a lot you can do for it so it has taken a while but everything seems really good now and I am working hard with Andy O’Boyle, the fitness coach, who is getting me back to full fitness." “I have been back in training for a while now and trying to get my fitness up and hopefully now I can push on. It has been hard with the weather being so bad because there haven’t been that many reserve matches so I haven’t got many minutes under my belt.” O'Halloran made his debut when he came on as substitute for the last twenty minutes against QPR. He said he was given simple instructions from his manager. “He told me to just go out and show what I can do,” he said. “I was hoping to get up and down the line because that’s what my game is about. I like helping the winger and putting balls into the box and hopefully I did that and now I hope to get a chance to do it again and get a win." “I just need to keep working on my fitness and hopefully prove to the gaffer that I am worth a place, but it is a long road and obviously the lads have been doing well so I will wait for my chance and try to grab it." “I think I am ready for a start and then maybe see how far I can last, but I am definitely pushing for 90 minutes and with the two games in quick succession on Saturday and Monday hopefully I will be involved." "The gaffer has stressed that it is a squad game and he will need us all over the busy period, so hopefully I can get another go and hopefully I can show the gaffer that I am like a new signing for him and that he doesn’t need to go out and get any more left-backs in the window.” Having to watch his team mates from the stands he has seen enough to believe his side are good enough to finish in the top six. // '); // ]]> He said, “I thought we played well in the first half against QPR and it would have been a different game if we had taken our chances.” “There are obviously one or two little things we have to work on and you never know we could get a win next time.We work on our set plays a lot in training and you could see we are a threat from set pieces." “Platty has been knocking on the door for a while and Woody deserves a goal as well and hopefully they will get some under their belts soon. We have had a few defeats over Christmas but we have bounced back from this before and hopefully we can get another run together to get us back up the table." “You can see we are a good side and we have a plan to push up the league.The gaffer has emphasised he doesn’t want mediocrity so hopefully we can get on a run and get into a good position.”

Source: FOOTYMAD