Birmingham City defender David Murphy tells of long battle to recover from knee injury

Nov 22 2009 by Andy Walker, Sunday Mercury

INJURY-stricken Blues defender David Murphy has reflected on what he calls the toughest seven months of his career.

The left-back has been out of action since fracturing his kneecap at Watford in April. The 25-year-old expected to be back and knocking on Alex McLeish’s first-team door long before now but two setbacks have added to his frustration.

Specialists are still unsure what the cause to Murphy’s ongoing problem is, although two pins that were inserted into his knee may be to blame.

All in all, it has made for a thoroughly miserable end to 2009 for the ex-Middlesbrough trainee who has had to sit back and watch his Blues team-mates set out on the club’s latest Premier League adventure.

“This has been the hardest part of my career so far, without a doubt,” admitted Murphy, whose only previous serious injury was a three-month lay-off for a broken foot.

“I had a setback last week and I had to be given another injection. It’s been seven months now and it’s been hard. Hopefully, this last injection will either do it or otherwise I’ll have to look at getting the screws taken out.

“We’re not quite sure what’s wrong. I seem to be coming back and running and doing high-intensity work and then breaking down. They don’t know if it’s the screws causing the problem or what.

“It’s something that the specialists are looking at now. Hopefully, it will be resolved sooner rather than later. I was fully back and ready to train, they thought the injections would clear the situation but it hasn’t.

“When I first did the injury, the surgeon said that I would be back just after pre-season. We all thought that was a bit optimistic and I thought I’d miss the start of the season, but maybe I’d be back a couple of games into it.

“It just hasn’t gone to plan, it’s been really frustrating. Mentally, it’s been tough but hopefully I can see some sort of light at the end of the tunnel now and hopefully I won’t be too far off.