West Ham's Gary O'Neil has revealed that he is delighted to be back in the mix after suffering a serious ankle injury back in April.
Hammers star back from serious ankle injury
West Ham's Gary O'Neil has revealed that he is delighted to be back in the mix after suffering a serious ankle injury back in April.
The midfielder's career was reportedly thought to be hanging in the balance following a challenge by Nigel Reo-Coker during the Hammers' home game against Aston Villa.
However, the former Portsmouth and Middlesbrough star showed plenty of determination during his rehabilitation over the past eight months to fight his way back into first-team contention.
O'Neil was named in Sam Allardyce's squad which travelled for the Boxing Day game against Birmingham in the Championship and the 28-year-old admitted being surprised at the call-up, despite remaining on the bench in the 1-1 draw.
"It was quite late notice," he told the club's
official website. "It wasn't something I was expecting. I had a decent 80 minutes in a reserve game and a couple of decent training sessions with the first team this week. I looked up on Christmas Eve and my name was on the board to travel. It was nice to be back involved.
"I spent a lot of time working hard on my own to get to this position, no one gets to see that.
"It was nice to finally get a reward and get to feel part of the squad again. It is just a shame that the result didn't go our way but it was really good to be involved."
The East London outfit face a New Year's Eve trip to Derby before the visit of lowly Coventry to Upton Park on Monday and O'Neil is hopeful of gaining maximum points.
He added: "We are looking forward to the next couple of games, starting with Derby on Saturday.
"The position the lads were in at Birmingham we expected to go on and win, but a point away from home is good and we have another two big games this week. It is important we get the results."
