Cuthbert relieved to be over his most frustrating injury

Hatters skipper Scott Cuthbert is mightily relieved to finally be past the most frustrating injury of his career.
Town defender Scott Cuthbert is ready to play against CambridgeTown defender Scott Cuthbert is ready to play against Cambridge
Town defender Scott Cuthbert is ready to play against Cambridge

The 30-year-old ended almost four long months away from the game at the weekend, coming on as a second half substitute during the 1-1 draw at Cambridge United.

It had been against the U’s that Cuthbert suffered his nasty groin injury back in November, Town running out 7-0 winners, with both the defender and his team in top form.

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He said: “Everything was going great. I said that to Jared (Roberts-Smith, head of sports science) when I got injured, it was the best I’d felt since I came to the club in terms of the way I was playing and the way I felt physically.

“I felt as fit as I ever had, I had a great pre-season in Slovenia, I felt really, really great and the team were doing well as well.

“Injuries never come at a good time, but it certainly never came at the best of times for me and this has been the worst injury I’ve had in terms of frustration levels.

“When you have to sit in the stands and watch the team, I’ve tried my best to come to as many away games as I can and watch them, it’s massively frustrating when the team is doing well, as you just want to be part of it.

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“But the lads have done excellent and there’s still enough games for me to be involved in, which I’m really happy about.

“It’s the business end now and hopefully I can be involved.”

Going into detail on what exactly he has had to overcome physically, Cuthbert continued: “It’s been a tough 12 weeks since I did it.

“I remember playing the ball down the channel and getting a push in the back and the way I’ve landed, something never felt right.

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“When I got the scan results, I’d torn the left one (groin) completely off, my right one was partially, I’d torn a few of my abdominal muscles as well, so there was quite a lot of work that needed done there

“There was then an issue about maybe the scan wasn’t read quite right, we felt like we were maybe dealing with something that wasn’t as serious, so that held it up for about two weeks.

“But when you’ve had a couple of injuries, you know yourself when things aren’t quite right.

“So that’s when luckily we got to the specialist and he was able to give me the right diagnosis.

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“I needed to get an operation on my groins, which at that stage of the season when the team’s hit a great run of form is not ideal.

“It’s been frustrating and long in the gym, but I’ve been working really hard with Jared and Elliot and Luke the two interns trying to get myself back fit.

“I’ve trained now for the last two weeks out on the grass, I’m slowly getting there and starting to feel a bit more like myself now.”

Cuthbert hasn’t suffered a great deal with injuries since joining the Hatters in the summer of 2015 , playing 40 games in his first season and then 46 last term.

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He has enjoyed a fairly fortunate career so far too, adding: “I’m nearly 31 now and I don’t get too many injuries, but when I do, I do them fairly big.

“I ripped my hamstring off the bone, Charlton away when I was 24. I was just going to block a cross and popped it off, so that was six months out as well.

“Apart from that, a hernia operation, stuff that comes with the territory.

“I’ve been okay and tend to recover quite quickly from these things, so I’m glad I’m back out there.”

“Having been out for so long, people forget how long you’ve been out for, it takes a little while to get going, but I’m getting there.”