Joe Lolley has brushed off fitness concerns – and set his sights on another Huddersfield Town outing at former club Birmingham City on Saturday.
The 22-year-old was brought off 58 minutes into his first start of the season at home to Rotherham United last Saturday.
That sparked fears of a fresh injury for the Midlands-born frontman, but he insisted: “It was just a bit of cramp.
“It was unfortunate I couldn’t carry on for longer, but I haven’t played from the start for a while, and the more time on the pitch I get, the fitter I will get.”
Lolley, who has featured in 12 Championship matches in all this season, made his name with non-League Kidderminster Harriers, from whom Town signed him for £300,000 in January 2014.
But he was on Birmingham’s books in his early teens, with his lifelong support of their arch-rivals Aston Villa making him even keener to shine at St Andrew’s.
“It’s one of the bigger games of the season for me. My family and friends will be there, so I’m looking forward to the match and desperate to play,” he explained.
“I’ve had a few injuries, and it’s obviously frustrating when you’re not playing. But to still have the backing of the fans helps. It keeps you smiling and hopefully I can repay their faith in me.
“When I’ve had injuries they’ve always come at bad times and it’s taken a long time to recover. I had one when the manager came in.
“But hopefully that’s all behind me now and I can start showing what I can do on a more regular basis.”
Lolley says the team are ready to atone for their 2-0 loss against Rotherham which followed defeats at Charlton Athletic and Brentford,
“We need to move on. We need to make sure that in the last 10 games of the season we start fighting and picking up points,” he added.
“I’m sure we can bounce back. We’ve got to be positive and try to get ourselves back up the table.
“Only the other week we were 12th.
“There’s still plenty of points to play for and with the league being so tight a couple of wins will do us the world of good.”
