Lee Frecklington talks to www.themillers.co.uk...
Rotherham United captain Lee Frecklington says he is nearing a first team return after rejoining his teammates on the grass at training this morning and hopes he could feature in this weekend’s South Yorkshire derby if called upon by boss Paul Warne.
The influential midfielder was sidelined with injury in the early stages of the away clash with Rochdale with initial fears that he had picked up a muscle injury which could have ruled him out for a number of weeks.
However, after being examined by the club’s medical staff, the diagnosis was not as bad as first anticipated and Frecklington says he is now well on course for a return to the first-team fold.
“Nobody likes missing games and I'm no different,” he told www.themillers.co.uk.
“I was back outside on the grass this morning and once you've had an injury and you're back out there you're not usually far from a return.
“Today was the first day back on the grass and I came through it no problem so it's just whenever the gaffer feels he wants to throw me back in now.
“I've had muscle problems before and the way it felt [when picking up the injury at Rochdale] with the sharp pain, I feared I'd be out for a while.
“Thankfully it's been something like three weeks or so and I'd have taken that all day long when I first felt that, so I'm happy it's been less time than I expected.”
Frecklington admits he is hoping his return comes in time for this weekend’s all-South Yorkshire affair at the Keepmoat Stadium, which will mark the start of a tough run of fixtures and see the Millers pit their wits against a number of League One’s leading clubs.
“It's live on Sky as well and it's a big local derby,” he continued.
“There will be a big fan following going there and Darren Ferguson is my old manager, so there's a lot riding on that game and hopefully I can be in contention and if he [Paul Warne] picks me, I can play.
“We said at the start of the season that we'd had some tough games but I think against some of the harder opposition, we've done better.
“Wigan, Shrewsbury and Blackpool are all coming up so it's a tough run of fixtures but we need to play them all at some point and we want to win.”
The Millers have endured a tough run of results in recent weeks with defeats against Gillingham and Crewe Alexandra in both league and cup competitions but the club’s captain is confident that he and his teammates remain on course to hit their early season ambitions.
“I want Rotherham to win whether I'm playing or not. Obviously the last couple of games haven't gone well, so I'd like to think that I could come back and hopefully make a difference and we can get back to winning games,” Frecklington explained.
“I'd say it's been positive overall. We had ambitions of trying to be in the top 10 and we're sitting just outside the Play-offs at the moment even after a few disappointing results.
“Once we start putting that right and getting a few more consistent results together we can make sure we're at least in those Play-off positions.”