Mansfield Town defender Elliott Hewitt so happy to play first full game after long injury lay-off

Hewitt helped Stags to a 2-1 home win over Shrewsbury Town and said: “It was good to play the full 90, though it was tough.

“My body was certainly telling me it had been a long time since the last full game.

“I am just trying to recover now and get ready for Saturday.

“I am not feeling too bad today (Tuesday). I didn't feel great on Sunday and probably even worse on Monday but I am starting to feel more like myself now.”

Hewitt knows he still has a way to go, saying: “I am not up to sharpness yet.

“I missed quite a bit of pre-season with niggles. I am getting there slowly and in a few weeks I should be back up to full speed.

“It was the longest injury of my career and hopefully the last one.

“I am building up training steadily and maybe not doing everything the other lads are doing.

“I have to listen to what my body is telling me, whether I can train every day or if I need a day with Tom in the gym. I have to look after myself that way as well.

“But it is not holding me back flying into tackles or anything.

“That is how you get injured if you're pulling out of tackles or going in half-heatedly.

“That's not really what I am about. So I just need to keep on going into challenges the way I do.”

Stags have made an impressive start to life in League One and Hewitt said: “As a team I think it's been a positive start with some good results.

“I think we could have played better at times, but we have played really well at times too and we have got points on the board.

“Personally I have been glad to have played as many minutes as I have so far.

“The step up in standard is definitely noticeable this year.

“We have just played the bottom two but I think they would have comfortably beaten most sides in League Two last year. But we are looking forward to the season.”

On Saturday's 90 minutes for Hewitt, boss Nigel Clough added: “It was another step in the right direction for him after 15 months out.

“It's been a long comeback and when it was going well for him in the summer he had a slight stomach problem which meant he couldn't do anything for up to six weeks which set him back

“I hope going forward now we will see the old Elliott.

“I think we have seen glimpses of him so far, but I now hope he can really settle into playing regularly and build up his match time.”