Fleetwood Town defender Harrison Holgate hopes to repay faith with injury worries behind him

The centre-back returned to the Fleetwood Town side on Saturday as they lost 2-1 at home to Morecambe.

The academy product has suffered with an Achilles injury but did not expect to spend so long on the sidelines.

Holgate made a strong start to the season but was injured in the Papa John’s Trophy win over Leicester City Under-21s at the end of August.

The 21-year-old encountered some problems on his road to recovery and could only sit by and watch as his teammates struggled for form.

Holgate said: “I had a slight tear in my Achilles. I didn’t realise it would be that long – I thought it would be quite quick.

“I’ve got to give credit to the physio team. We made good progress and then it stopped for a little bit – and that’s when they stepped in and had a little look. They put a few things in place to get me sorted.

“It was thanks to them that I was back on the pitch.

“I had one (injury) when I was in the youth team, which was quite long, and I got a little injury towards the end of last season.

“But before I got this injury I’d got my place in the team, which was what this season was about, so it was a bit gutting for me to have to come out for so long.

“You see the team and you want to help out, especially when we’re down to limited bodies. You feel like you need to do everything you can to get out there and help the team.

“I’ve put the work in with the staff to get back to this point. I’ll try to keep injury-free and on the pitch from this point until the end of the season.”

Holgate was not deemed ready for a second start in four days but came off the bench at Oxford United on Tuesday, when Town suffered another defeat.

He feels there is more to come from the Highbury squad and doesn’t have time for any feelings of self-pity.

Holgate said: “We can’t keep making excuses. We’re in the position we are in for a reason. There is only us who can get us out of it.

“The fans were great when we were on top on Saturday and we need to repay their faith with some better performances, wins and clean sheets.

“The lads are working hard on that. We had a good week of training – that wasn’t shown in the game on Saturday but in the coming games it will be.

“We can’t be feeling sorry for ourselves.”

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