Hatters duo progressing well with injuries despite lockdown

Town duo Brendan Galloway and Eunan O’Kane have made good progress in their recovery from injuries despite spending two months in lockdown due to the coronavirus, according to the club’s head of medical operations Simon Parsell.

Galloway, who signed on a free transfer from Everton last summer, hasn’t kicked a ball since the 7-0 defeat at Brentford on November 30, stretchered off in the second half following a horrific knee injury.

Meanwhile,O’Kane, who joined Town on an 18-month agreement from Leeds United back in January, still hasn’t played competitively since he suffered a serious fracture to his leg on September 15, 2018, during his first spell at Kenilworth Road.

Speaking to the club’s official YouTube channel about how the pair had been getting on, Parsell said: “We’re making some really good progress with both of them.

“It has been difficult, it’s been challenging, I’ve got to say.

“But with the help of Zoom and with the help of some of the older members of the medical team, performing great demonstration videos, we’ve managed to get a lot of work done.

“I have to praise both Brendan and Eunan that they have both invested in some equipment at their homes and they’ve embraced what we’ve tried to do with them.

“We’ve been sending out daily work programmes, we’ve been reviewing stuff by video and they’re really making good progress.

“Eunan was a project for us, Brendan had his nasty injury, but it’s been good, a little bit of a tester sometimes on the physical front because you’re in lockdown, you’re in those four walls and you’re having to do it on your own.

“So a little bit of cajoling along the way, to try and keep them focused, but they’ve done really,really well and I’m really pleased as to where they are.

“I don’t think we’ve lost that much time, in some respects, it’s been more of a one-on-one session than they would have got at the training ground.”

Keeping the duo in the right frame of mind to get through the down times that come with suffering a long term injury has also been something of a challenge for Parsell and his team too.

He added: “The psychology of the injury now is a really big part.

“It’s getting the lads to understand the injury, buying into the injury, because when it happens it’s the end of the world.

“Glen Rea, Luke Berry, Cameron McGeehan, all of these players, when they have these injuries, they will have seen it as that their career is over.

“In their mind, their career is over, they’re not going to get back from this, so the psychology and them buying into it and equally with the family, including the family to help cajole and producing a healing environment is what you’ve got to do.

“Sometimes there are ups, sometimes there are downs, sometimes you’ve got to look at it and say ‘go away. Just take three days, four days, go away, refocus and come back.

“‘The body will take care of the healing, but the mind is a very, very strong part of what you’re dealing with and what you need to do, it really is important that you get that on board.’”