Melbourne Victory defender Nick Ansell concedes he had a mixture of nerves after his return coming off the bench in Victory’s 3-3 draw with Central Coast in Geelong last Friday.
Ansell had not played since the 2014-15 A-League grand final and was battling both a physical battle with his long-term foot injury and psychological setbacks.
“To be honest I was a little bit nervous coming back, I haven’t played in such a long time, I got a few couple of passes out of the way pretty early,” Ansell said on Tuesday.”
“I felt pretty normal to be honest and I felt good, it was been a long time, been about seven months happy to come back and felt confident.
“I was pretty happy with how we went last season, I was thinking with the surgeon ‘how am I going to come back after another injury’.
“I’m pretty lucky that Musky believes in me and has always given me a chance and yeah I’m pretty thankful to the club because I’ve come back in pretty good form so far.”
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Victory take on league leaders Brisbane Roar at AAMI Park on Friday night. Being substituted on in the second-half in last week’s game, Ansell was still unsure whether he would play a full 90 minutes, however, he felt his foot had made a vast recovery in his time off.
“Foots been really good, staff, I mean staff here at Victory, physio staff looked after me well and gave me that extra time hence why it’s been a really long process and to get the foot right and cant thank them enough,” he said.
“I guess it’s up to Musky and to Anthony Crea as well to see if I can run out a full 90 minute game, he said.
Being an absentee for the first half of the season, Ansell maintained the belief with is return allows depth for his team. Leigh Broxham, who played the role as centre-back in Ansell’s absence, could slot back into his traditional role in central-midfield.
This would mean a traditional and consistent back four with Jason Geria on the right, Matthieu Delpierre and Ansell in the centre. with Daniel Georgievski on the left.
“Broxy playing midfield his whole life really enjoys it, I think he prefers it there,” Ansell joked.
“I think when I was playing last season, it was the same back four for the majority of the season.
“I think when you have the same back four, it’s much easier to get used to the people you play next to and what they’re going to in games, I think that’s a key backline.”
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