St Johnstone’s Collin Samuel tells The Courier of his frustration at spending so long on the sidelines.
The Trinidad and Tobago internationalist made a blistering start to the season but needed a cartilage op back in December.
He recovered well from that but a combination of the atrocious winter weather and a calf injury have hampered his progress and appearances since.
And having seen midfielder Liam Craig overtake him in the club scoring charts, Samuel is now desperate to make up for lost time.
The striker came on for the last 15 minutes during the 1-1 draw against Falkirk on Tuesday night and he is now hoping to make his first start of 2010 tomorrow at Hamilton.
“It has been a long time out with injury and a difficult spell for me,” he said.
“I had the cartilage op and then I picked up another little niggle.
“It was possibly caused by all the training on artificial pitches and was something out of nothing.
“I tried to come back a couple of times but it just wasn’t happening for me.
“I was delighted to get on the pitch on Tuesday and it is now a case of me building my fitness up again and trying to force my way back into the team.Frustrating”I have not started a game this year, which is incredibly frustrating.
“So I am keeping my fingers crossed that I can pick up where I left off.
“I do not know what the gaffer has in mind for me but I am desperate to take part on Saturday at Hamilton as I normally get a goal when we play them.”
Samuel shares a car to training with Kenny Deuchar and Liam Craig.
Former Falkirk midfielder Craig has been in a rich vein of scoring form of late and now has nine goals for the season compared to Samuel’s seven.
And the striker has warned his team-mate that he is determined to overtake him once again.
“Liam is just two goals ahead of me so one game could make a big difference,” he added.
“So whenever the opportunity comes, I have to be ready to take it.
“Liam has been playing really well this season and I am sure he will score a few more before the campaign ends.
“But I am also determined to get into double figures so we will just have to wait and see who comes out on top.
“From a team point of view, I am sure that we are capable of finishing in the top six.”