Midfielder glad to be back in the fold for competitive football
Exeter City midfielder Liam Sercombe is excited for the new season and to return to competitive action against Bristol Rovers at 3pm on Saturday.
The Exeter-born man has been sidelined with injury since before the turn of the year, after sustaining a broken ankle against Barnet in the festive period. After months of grafting and hard work to regain his fitness, Liam looks set to be involved in the Sky Bet League 2 game against the Pirates.
“I’m excited, as I haven’t played a League game in seven months,” said Sercombe. “I can’t wait for it, and I’m feeling good – this is probably the best I’ve felt for a long time.
“Before I broke my ankle, I had a niggling bone bruise in my ankle which I had to have steroid jabs in to take the pain away. It wasn’t good for me because I was trying to play through the pain but it was sore as I was playing.
“But I broke my ankle at the right time to let it heal. It has all cleared up now – the bone bruising has gone and I feel 100 per cent.”
He warmed up with the team on the final day of last season at Chesterfield, though he wasn’t involved in the matchday squad. Liam has since impressed in pre-season ahead of 2013/14, and he admitted he has been looking forward to being involved in a competitive match since the moment he got injured.
“As soon as I had my injury, I was thinking about getting back playing again,” Sercombe continued. “There was a chance I might have been able to play the last game of last season [against Chesterfield] but there wasn’t much point in risking it. So I’ve been waiting for this game – I couldn’t wait for the fixture list to see who our first game was against, and I’m looking forward to kicking on and starting to play again.”
Manager Paul Tisdale has picked out the performances of Sercombe on a number of occasions in pre-season and the playmaker reacted well to the praise. And now he is looking forward to getting underway in a frenzied environment of a West Country derby.
“If anyone’s going to praise you, you want it to come from the manager more than anyone else. For him to pick me out a couple of times has really boosted my confidence. I think I did well and that I deserved it, but to get praise from your manager is one of the best feelings you can have as a footballer.”
“Having a big local derby is probably the best thing that could have happened for us to start us off – it’ll be a massive crowd. This will be a huge season for us, kicking it off against Rovers in a great atmosphere, and hopefully we will be able to get the three points.”
Click here for ticketing details for the game against Bristol Rovers on Saturday 3rd August, 3pm.