Stuart Holden - Come Back Video Clips

American midfielder speaks after completing 65 minutes for the development squad on Tuesday evening

Stuart Holden was delighted to make his long-awaited Wanderers return after playing 65 minutes for the development squad at the County Ground last night.

The midfielder has spent a prolonged period of time on the sidelines with a knee injury, but recently returned to training with Dougie Freedman’s side at Euxton.

The US international successfully navigated his first completive match since his return, featuring in the Whites’ 3-0 Manchester Senior Cup victory over Oldham, but the 27-year-old insisted that he will not get ahead of himself.

"It was great. I felt good, sharp and fit," Holden said, speaking after the game. "It was good to put some tackles in, to get on the ball and to be playing in a real game. I now feel that I am getting closer to making my return to the first team.

"It has been a long road but it is one in which I have maintained perspective and I have been taking it at the right pace. It is now important that I don't get carried away at this late stage.

"But as far as how my knee felt and how I felt out there, I think I can come away from that feeling really good about it all and now I need to do the proper things during the recovery and prepare myself for the next game.

"If all goes well from this then I don't anticipate any reaction and I can now take the next step. That will be playing a bit longer and then I think I will be ready to roll with the full 90 minutes. I am very close now. I have worked so hard to get to this stage and I don’t want to do anything now to mess that up.

"The manager said that I had done well after the game. He has been very encouraging and understanding about the situation since he got here. I am very thankful for that and he doesn't put any pressure on me to rush back. We have all got the long-term goal in mind.

"Training has been great. It has been so intense and it has been nice to learn the manager's perspective of the game. He was a good player in his time and he has got a lot to teach and I am willing to listen and learn to make myself a better player."

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absolutely terrible performance.

Cheers BTID

If all goes well, he could be back in a month. Not much to go on here, but it looked like he was moving well and showing his quick acceleration away from his markers plus his usual snappy distribution. All good, but clearly he's not going to be in the first team for a few games yet.

According to this article, Dougie wants to give him one or two more reserve games for a full 90 minutes. Also Mark davies will be able to straight back into the first team as he has managed to keep himself match fit whilst being injured.

“He’ll then need one or two at 90 minutes before we can think about starting him. But there is no reason why he cannot be around the first-team squad. It’s unfair to put any pressure on him to get playing but as we have all seen, he’s getting very close.''

Mark Davies is expected to go straight into the first-team reckoning. The former Wolves man has been able to keep his fitness up during his recovery from a shoulder injury and his rehabilitation will not need to be managed the same way.

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aaron_bwfc wrote:According to this article, Dougie wants to give him one or two more reserve games for a full 90 minutes. Also Mark davies will be able to straight back into the first team as he has managed to keep himself match fit whilst being injured.

2 weeks, 2 weeks till they are both crocked again...

Reebok_Rebel wrote:

aaron_bwfc wrote:According to this article, Dougie wants to give him one or two more reserve games for a full 90 minutes. Also Mark davies will be able to straight back into the first team as he has managed to keep himself match fit whilst being injured.

2 weeks, 2 weeks till they are both crocked again...

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Still reckon it will be a month before we see Holden play 90 minutes in a first team game. They all appear to be very cagey which is fair enough after his last "comeback".

Agree, we need to take our time with Stu's return this time. No matter how good a player is, rushing him back from injury never has a happy ending. That said, I'm really looking forward to seeing what impact Stu can have on our lacklustre season so far.

Lt. Boon wrote:Agree, we need to take our time with Stu's return this time. No matter how good a player is, rushing him back from injury never has a happy ending. That said, I'm really looking forward to seeing what impact Stu can have on our lacklustre season so far.