Mustapha Olagunju spoke after his first appearance in 20 months
- Fleetwood Town 1-0 Huddersfield Town B
- Mustapha Olagunju discusses first game after lengthy injury
- The defender touches on his recovery
Coming on for the final 20 minutes of the B Team’s game against Fleetwood Town, Olagunju made his first appearance in 20 months after suffering with a lengthy knee injury.
Since sustaining a long-term knee injury in July 2021, Mustapha Olagunju has been stuck on the side-lines while he recovered.
Now, 20 months later, the defender got some minutes in the bag as he came on for the final 20 minutes of our B Team’s game against Fleetwood Town in the Central League, this afternoon.
“It was a good 20 minutes out there, it might just be a starting point, but it was good to be back out with the lads.
“Preparing for today’s game was tough mentally and physically, especially after being out for the last 20 months, but it was good to be back in the game again.”
The 21-year-old touched on his recovery, and how he dealt with the set-back to where he is now going forward.
“Being out for so long actually wasn’t that challenging, I just took it for what it was and took it in my stride. At the end of the day, this is the game, and you get injured sometimes.
“I think towards the end when you can see the light at the end of the tunnel it gets easier, but it also gets harder to mentally prepare yourself to play again.
“Today was just the starting point, 20 minutes was the first step for me. Now I have to keep building on that and keep improving as I get back in touch with the game.”
Olagunju spoke about when he found out he was going to make his appearance and he is already looking ahead to his next game.
“I knew yesterday that I was going to play today, they told me I would get 10 maybe 15 minutes, so 20 minutes is a really good starting point.
“Maybe next time I’ll play another 20 minutes or I might push up to half an hour, maybe even 45 minutes – I just have to keep my head down and play the game.”
It was good to see you back out there today, Muzzy!
