JONATHAN Obika is back to near full fitness – but has to get over the mental side of his shoulder injury before he is 100 per cent.

When fellow striker Michael Smith had a similar, if slightly less severe, injury, Town boss Mark Cooper remarked that the psychological effects were longer lasting than the physical ones.

Obika has made a few appearances since recovering – making a surprise start against Yeovil – but has not been given a run-out beyond 45 minutes.

Though physically he feels fine Obika revealed that has to get mentally steeled to deal with contact.

“I’m feeling good. It clears up every day but I feel it’s just to get over the mental side. In training yesterday it was feeling stronger than ever,” he said.

“At the start, when they first told me that I would be back in three weeks and then I’m just in training, you get a feeling that it’s strong or that it’s not. I’m very happy with how it is now.

“I was very concerned when I went down in the Yeovil game because it was basically a similar fall and it caused quite some pain. I’m quite happy that, over a few hours, the pain went and I was back in training the next day.

“In your head you want to play every game, but your body needs the time to recover. You just have to sit and watch and always take things from the game.

“Last season, I had big injury and my first thought was it could be another one, I’m just thankful to be back near to fitness.”