Cherries: Molesley hoping to copy Cooper comeback (From Bournemouth Echo)

Cherries: Molesley hoping to copy Cooper comeback

7:00am Saturday 4th September 2010 in

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MARK Molesley is hoping to follow in the footsteps of comeback king Shaun Cooper after revealing he is making patient progress in his recovery from surgery.

The Cherries star went under the knife in April to cure a persistent left-foot injury and got the green light to kick on with his rehabilitation in July.

Since then, he has been steadily building up his training with strength and conditioning work in a bid to give himself the “very, very best chance” of making a successful return.

In similar fashion to team-mate Cooper, who spent much of last season recovering from hip surgery, Molesley intends to bide his time as he attempts to return to action.

And the former non-league midfielder, a key performer for Cherries before being sidelined, is using his colleague as an example for his own painstaking recovery mission.

He told the Echo: “I’ve got to line everything up and make sure everything’s strong enough ready for when I can start running – that the foot is as strong as it can be and all the other areas because I haven’t played for about 10 months now.

“If I carry on the way I’m going then I might be able to start running out on the field within, hopefully, about a couple of weeks.

“But I haven’t run properly for a long time so it’s going to take quite a while to get me up to speed.

“I think you just have to look at Coops. He took a little bit longer to come back but look how he has come back – he’s come back better than ever.

“He had quite an uncommon injury as well and he went through a lot of ups and downs with it, but he stuck with it, took maybe a little bit longer than they first anticipated, but look how he’s come back, he’s come back better than ever.

“I’ve pushed it before and it hasn’t worked so we’ve just got to make sure we take our time.”

Molesley is combining treadmill work at Southampton Solent University with strength and conditioning sessions at the Anglo-European College of Chiropractic in Boscombe as he builds up towards getting on the training field to start full running.

He added: “We’re definitely going in the right direction. I’m still quite nervous and anxious about getting out on to the field because the last operation I had I got to this stage and it wasn’t until I went out on the field that I broke down.

“I’ve got to go through all this to make sure I give myself the best chance that when I do go out on the field I won’t break down.

“We’ve had a longer healing process this time round, a different type of surgery and, plus, I’m doing even more strengthening and conditioning to give myself the very, very best chance that when I do get out on the field I’m ready and the foot will stand up.”