Source: Northern_Echo
Flood, fighting for a new contract, makes his return to action
WILLO FLOOD edged closer to a first team return with Middlesbrough yesterday before admitting the last 14 months have left him wondering what the future holds.[LNB] The Irishman is out of contract in the summer and intends to put everything into the final six weeks of the campaign to prove he is worthy of an extension.[LNB] Flood, taken off after 67 minutes, came through his second reserve outing inside seven days in the 2-1 defeat to Hull City at the Riverside.[LNB] But he is likely to have to bide his time for a Championship comeback, with manager Tony Mowbray reluctant to throw him in quickly.[LNB] Flood ruptured his posterior knee ligament in March last year. After returning to fitness in pre-season, he dislocated his opposite knee in the opening day defeat to Ipswich.[LNB] He then suffered a thigh strain in a behind-closeddoors match at Rockliffe Park in February which was designed to ease him back into action.[LNB] You just have to keep smiling,[LNB] said the 25-year-old, signed by Gordon Strachan in January last year. There's no point dwelling. I just want to get fit and get involved in the first team and try to earn a contract. If not you have to go elsewhere.[LNB] I have really enjoyed it here, there's good people everywhere. I might have only played 12 games but I really enjoy it. There's a good supporter base at this club and a good chairman in Steve Gibson.[LNB] I would like to think the fans respected what I offered in those matches I played. I never left an ounce in the dressing room.[LNB] I gave my all. The fans appreciate it here because they are working class people like myself.[LNB] Having spent so long on the treatment table, Flood is taking nothing for granted and is trying to take things slowly while he attempts to convince Mowbray he is worthy of a new deal.[LNB] You need to get your sharpness and it's nice to have played two matches in seven days, even if I felt it a bit, said Flood.[LNB] It's just good to be back on the pitch again because it has been a long road. It's more or less been 14 months out.[LNB] It plays on your mind because you have a missus and a kid, but things happen in football and you just have to get your head down, work hard and try to get a contract.[LNB] It started well here. I started every game in those first couple of months.[LNB] There's a good bunch of lads here, good staff, medical staff and it's been a great club to be injured at.[LNB] Summer signing Kevin Thomson has also returned to full training, recovering from the broken leg that has kept him out since New Year's Day.[LNB] Thomson was not involved yesterday a defeat that means Boro's reserves will lose grip on top spot of the Totesport.com League if Leeds win at HartlepoolUnited tonight.[LNB] Boro who handed run out to Luke Dobie after his release from Everton had the better of the chances in the first half, with Andy Halliday going closest when goalkeeper Joe Cracknell saved.[LNB] Cameron Park, swapped to the right flank for much of the second half, drifted inside his marker before his low shot found the inside of Cracknell's left post.[LNB] Boro looked comfortable, but Hull stepped up and levelled when Francis McAffrey slid his shot underneath goalkeeper Danny Coyne ten minutes later.[LNB] And two minutes before time Cramlington-born striker Mark Cullen turned inside the box and directed a curling right-foot strike inside Coyne's far post.[LNB] Boro: Coyne; Pilatos, Gibson, Weldon, Reach; Fowler, Oliver (Dobie 74), Flood (Edwards 67), Park; Halliday, Wyke. Subs: Jackson, Brobbel, Ripley (gk).[LNB]
