Mansfield Town striker Rhys Oates hoping for brighter future after latest injury

Oates, who has suffered terrible luck with a variety of injuries over recent seasons, had returned from a cruciate knee ligament injury lay-off only to jolt the knee on New Year's Day and find himself back in the treatment room.

But he said this week: “It's all going well. I had the operation on 26th February and it's been a good recovery.

“After a couple of weeks of letting the swelling go down and the knee settle down, I am back in the gym now and back on the grass soon.

“It's now about building up the strength. I did some testing today and it went really well.

“When I got back from my knee injury it started swelling up with no one really knowing why, so that was tough mentally.

“But I knew I needed to get it right and not push it too hard too soon in case I had another setback.

“I now need to get myself fit and hopefully I am here again next season.

“I have an option year in my contract. Hopefully that gets taken up and I can get fully fit by the end of the season to get pre-season under my belt and be back flying next season.”

On his latest injury on New Year's Day, he said: “I stepped back and landed on the Astroturf and my knee hyper-extended again. Luckily no damage was really done when it happened.

“It just caused it to swell up and stiffen up again.

“At that point we made the decision to get it checked and get it right.

“There was a lot of scar tissue in my knee when it was scanned so I I had the operation for them to go in and clear it out of the scar tissue. It's now feeling much better.”

With only four games played, it has been a tough watch for Oates this season, especially when they went 14 games without a win.

“Hopefully this is my last injury after my pectoral muscle and my ankle over the last two and a half years – it has been a tough run. Hopefully I am at the end of it now and can get myself fit and get myself right,” he said.

“I have watched all the games and we have had a tough spell, so it was nice to see us get back to back wins. Hopefully we can now keep pushing to the end of the season and see how high we can finish.

“We always knew the run of games without a win would come to an end. We had this three or four years ago and after the Northampton defeat we got a point and went on from there.

“There is a buzz around the place again and everyone is feeling much more positive.

“If I had been fit and playing my normal game, running in behind, using my pace and power, I think I could have helped chip in with a few goals this season had I been up to fitness and playing regularly.

“I have missed playing football – even training and just being out on the grass with the lads.

“I have spent so much time in the gym over the last 15-16 months and it is tough mentally, sat there watching the lads train.

“But you just have to get through it and know you will be back out there soon.

“It's my job. It's all I have ever done – play football. So to only play four games this season has been tough, but we are getting there.”

Manager Nigel Clough said: “We are very pleased with Rhys – he will be back for pre-season.

“It was a difficult one as he wanted to try to give it a go for the rest of this season, but we didn't think that was the best solution for his knee.

“He has had the op and the clean out and had no reaction to any of the work he's done so far, so we can't wait to see him back pre-season.

“We have never known a player like it in our whole career, playing-wise and managing, where a player has had such bad luck with injuries – and such a variety of injuries.

“He really deserves a break in the last few years of his career. Starting pre-season we'd love to see him back and stay injury-free.

“We have really missed him. Jordan Rhodes and Dom Dwyer might not have come into the club if Oatsy had been fit.”