SWINDON TOWN: Storey ready to fight for his place (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

SWINDON TOWN: Storey ready to fight for his place

6:00am Saturday 19th January 2013 in Sport By Sam Morshead

MILES Storey is ready to fight his way into Paolo Di Canio’s plans all over again after making a full recovery from a medial ligament tear.

The striker was propelled into the public eye with two goals against Aston Villa and a call-up to the England Under 19s in late October and early November but he has featured just three times since, and last pulled on a Town shirt in the 1-0 home defeat to Brentford almost two months ago.

A spell on the sidelines with his knee injury has hugely frustrated the 19-year-old, especially given that it is the first knock of any significance he has had to deal with both as a scholar and as a first-year pro, but having returned to full training at the beginning of the week he is now desperate to force himself back to the forefront of his manager’s mind.

“It’s my first full week back in normal training. It’s been tough because I’ve never had an injury before that’s really knocked me out for more than a couple of days. I’ve only had a couple of bruised legs,” he said.

“The physio knew straight away that it was a medial knee ligament injury but it wasn’t too bad. It was a high-end grade one, so not as bad as it could have been, and the rehab went well. It was a lot of leg weights and pool sessions to keep the fitness up and as I came closer to coming back to the squad I did more running and striking balls to get the movement back. It feels good at the minute.

“I was doing well before I got my injury and since I’ve been out the boys have been on fire. It’s going to be hard to get back in the team but I’ve just got to train hard and if I get back in the team I have to do my best to work my way back in.

“On Saturday I understood that Chrissy Martin, Collo (James Collins) and Willo (Andy Williams) are all on fire, Roons (Adam Rooney) as well, I just have to worm my way back in.

“I have to train hard and work my best even when we do little things like running.”

The adulation of the Swindon fans helped Storey deal with his rapid rise to local fame, and he remains grateful to the support he has continued to receive.

“It’s good that I’ve made an impact on the fans,” he said. “I haven’t really played a lot but it’s nice to know that they think I’m an option, whether it be if a couple of the lads are injured or the gaffer’s changing the team around or whether they think I should play.

“It’s just nice to know the fans rate you and when you come on they’re not saying ‘who’s this’.

“I was a bit of an unknown last year when I used to come on when I was still a scholar but now they know a bit more about me and hopefully I can get a few more games in the second half of the season.”