West Brom full-back Marek Cech is delighted to have Roman Bednar back among the goals after his ban.
Striker backed to get over ban with a little help from his friends
West Brom full-back Marek Cech is delighted to have team-mate Roman Bednar back among the goals after the striker's ban.
Bednar was handed a three-month back-dated suspension for breaching Football Association doping control regulations after allegedly being seen buying recreational drugs.
The Czech forward has since served his ban and marked his return to the side with a brace in the Baggies' 2-2 draw with Sheffield United last weekend.
When asked how the squad had welcomed the striker back, team-mate Cech admitted that although Bednar had done wrong, it did not affect their judgment of him.
Cech said: "Speaking for us players, very well, but it also counts for the club's representatives and supporters. Roman confirmed he's back with two goals against Sheffield United, which just reflects our trust in him.
"Had we done something wrong to him, he would have not scored. We trust him. We always knew that we would welcome him back.
"He has not done much wrong to us players. Of course, we missed him at the end of last season, when we needed him, but (we) could replace him anyway.
"Everyone will make an overstep in his life, so there was no reason to turn back on him."
Lesson
The Slovenian left-back feels his colleague has now learned his lesson and revealed that he is now sometimes the victim of dressing room pranks as a means of lightening the mood within the camp.
He added: "Roman did something wrong and he knows that very well.
"Of course, we have discussed it, sometimes we make jokes on the issue as we want to ease up the atmosphere so that he doesn't have to think about it all the time.
"The better he does on the pitch, the sooner he will forget about it.
"He is not the type of guy who would get offended. Roman is a good bloke and I am sure he has learned his lessons.
"I hope that next time he will consider things, which are not connected with football, very carefully and that he will become the good old Bednar again."
The 26-year-old also stressed the importance of Bednar to the West Brom side and feels that with him back among the goals, the Baggies can continue to push for promotion.
"At the moment he is a crucial player for us. In the last match he showed that he could become one of the most important players this season," he said.
"With Roman back, we want to return to the Premier League as soon as possible."
