Chris Shuker aims to overcome his psychological scars

Nov 10 2007 by Chris Beesley, Liverpool Daily Post

WHILE Chris Shuker is up for an FA Cup battle at Chesterfield today, the Tranmere winger admits that he is still to fully overcome the mental battle surrounding his recent thigh injury.

The diminutive winger’s slight frame masks the fact that Shuker is one of the most consistent and resilient performers in the Football League and as a player who hates to take a day off his recent fitness problems have been particularly frustrating.

Although the 25-year-old has now physically overcome the muscle tear that kept him uncharacteristically kicking his heels on the touchline, he acknowledges that it will take him longer before his confidence is fully restored.

Shuker said: “It was a thigh tear that has been niggling me since the start of the season.

“We were resting it in the week and playing during the weekend but it wasn’t getting any better so it was decided to rest against Walsall and give it a week.

“I went to get fit for the Huddersfield game and did it again which put me back until after the Forest game.

“I was unscathed against Oldham so I’ve just got to get over it psychologically now.

“I’m quite a good healer. Swindon was the first game I’d missed in four-and-a-half years through injury. I was massively disappointed to have lost my record.

“It was really sore when I kicked the ball. The only way to describe it is that it was like a knife going in your thigh.

“It’s got to knit back together but on the other hand you’ve got to strengthen it too otherwise it will just come away.

“I was okay with short passing and running, I just couldn’t strike a ball or cross it – which is nothing new!”

Shuker returned to the starting line-up against Oldham on Tuesday and he played 86 minutes of the match with no reaction to the problem, he admits that he went into the game with a certain degree of caution.

He said: “Every time I kicked the ball I was thinking ‘this could tear’. I know I shouldn’t have been thinking that.

“I’ve never been psychologically worried about injuries before and worried why other people were but it was in my mind every time I kicked a ball so I think it will probably be a few weeks before it goes out of my mind completely.”

Although promotion remains the priority at Prenton Park this season, Shuker is determined to get to the third round of the FA Cup having missed out on one of the big boys on the only previous occasion he’d gone that far.

However, he knows that if Rovers are to earn themselves a ‘glamour tie’ they must first get past a distinctly unglamorous trip to Saltergate today.

Shuker said: “I don’t think any tie you were going to get at this stage of the competition is going to be glamorous but I’m sure they’ll come in the third round when we get there.

“We’ll be stronger than Chesterfield as a squad. We’ve just got to put the bad results behind us and go with the confidence we’ve had in the previous games and get the win.

“I spoke to Kevin Ellison (ex-Tranmere, now playing in League Two for Chester City) and he said Chesterfield are doing well. They’ve got Jack Lester who is scoring goals and to be aware of him

“I’ve played against them for the past four seasons and it’s always been a tough place to go to but we’ve done well there since I’ve been here and when I was at Barnsley we did well there as well.

“It’s one of those horrible grounds where nobody likes to go. The changing rooms stink of must! It’s a horrible place but you’ve got to go there and do the horrible things like grafting and grinding out a result.”

He added: “Tranmere have done well in the FA Cup but I’ve never done too well in it myself but hopefully this can be the first year in a few for us both to do well.

“The third round is my best year, I’d like to have gone a bit further once or twice because we didn’t get a glamorous tie in the third round, it was Walsall away.

“When you play at this level week-in, week-out, you’re glued to the television hoping to get one of the Premier League teams like Liverpool.”

If Rovers are to progress in both the league and cup, Shuker concurs that they must stamp out the ‘long-ball’ football that has crept into their play just of late.

He said: “I only went out of the side through injury three games ago and I don’t remember us playing that much long ball – I was shocked.

“Oldham’s left-back said to me ‘You’re like Wimbledon’ and I said to him ‘we’re not normally to be honest’.

“When Steve Davies and I were both playing they were getting the ball out wide to us on the floor, since we’ve not been there they’ve had to change.

“Hopefully now that I’m back in there they’ll get the ball back on the floor.”