Alan Sheehan marked his return to action with a sensational free-kick in the 3-0 win Carabao Cup win at Cardiff and then revealed his delight to be back on the pitch after a problem that has plagued him for three years.
The club captain suffered an Achilles injury which ended his season in April so he had to watch on as his team-mates secured the League One title and only featured 21 times in total.
After completing 90 minutes in the Welsh capital, he said: I’m just really happy to get back in, get the feel for it, smell the fear in the tunnel. It’s a nice feeling again, you know?
“It’s my first game in about four months so I was happy. I was kind of thrown in the ocean with sharks. It was one of them ones, really, against a good Championship team. (Omar) Bogle and (Isaac) Vassell up front, they’re proven Championship players, (Gary) Madine coming on, it was a great test.
“They’re they type of football matches you want to be involved in, in a good stadium, so it was really enjoyable.”
It was Sheehan’s first appearance since April 20 and talking of his injury he said: “It happened in the Accrington game, but it’s been happening for three years almost, with tendonitis in my Achilles, so it’s sore everyday getting up out of bed, but I won’t bore you with that.
“It’s been a few months out, 12-14 weeks so if right was right, I should’ve been coming back into training this week, so I’m a bit ahead of schedule.”
Somewhat of a deadball specialist, Sheehan’s strike against Cardiff was a wonderful reminder of his talents from set pieces and he said: “I’m surprised I didn’t have more competition because Bezza (Luke Berry) usually likes to ruin the party when I step over a free-kick. Izzy Brown’s capable of it and George Moncur, as you’ve seen, so it was nice to hit it and it obviously went in.
“(There’s) high standards, because if don’t score or hit the target you probably won’t see me on it for a bit. I had a picture in my head and tried to stick to the picture and it went in.”
