ALEX SMITHIES has given Huddersfield Town a massive boost for the play-offs by revealing he will be fighting fit for the start of next season.
Town’s talented England age-group keeper is disappointed to be missing out on the play-off showpiece against Peterborough at Old Trafford on Sunday (3.00).
But he’s already recovered from the knee injury which has sidelined him during the promotion knockout and has a summer schedule planned to make sure he’s A1 when Lee Clark’s squad return for pre-season training.
“I’m very disappointed from a personal point of view to have missed out on the play-offs, but it’s all about the club doing well, not me,” said the 21-year-old stopper.
“We are part of something very special here as a squad and I’m a Huddersfield Town fan as well, so if we go up that’s all that matters.
“Even though there has been no game time for me recently, I’d like to think I’ve played some part in us getting to this point, having been involved in 20-odd games, and we just want to see it through to the end and reach the Championship.”
Smithies has missed the last nine matches after playing four on the trot following a 10-match absence through surgery.
“I had a cartilage repair to my left knee and I came back after six weeks, but obviously I was struggling,” he explained.
“My knee flared up again and I had obviously come back a little bit too soon.
“The four games I had back were basically doing me no good, so I had to drop back out again and go back to pretty much square one, ready to take my time getting back to full fitness.
“That has pretty much coincided with the end of the season, so there are no more matches for me, but there’s no reason why I shouldn’t be fully back and ready for our pre-season build-up.”
Smithies has nothing but praise for the way Ian Bennett has played during the team’s long unbeaten run and intends to be back challenging him for first-team duty next term.
Smithies was on hand to offer encouragement to Bennett before the penalty shoot-out against Bournemouth, when the 38-year-old saved from Liam Feeney before Anton Robinson crashed his penalty against the Town bar.
Back-up keeper Nick Colgan and goalkeeping coach John Vaughan were also in Bennett’s ear before the 4-2 clinching shoot-out after the thrilling 3-3 draw and 4-4 aggregate.
“Benno did a brilliant job, just as he has been since he went into the team,” added Academy product Smithies.
“There is nothing much more I can do at the moment in terms of fitness – my knee is pretty much as it should be.
“Over the summer I’ll just be like the rest of the lads, keeping myself fit and doing some work in the gym to make sure I’m ready for pre-season.
“Everyone has gone into the play-offs in a very positive mood and nothing has changed since we beat Bournemouth and found out it’s Peterborough in the final.
“ No-one was bothered who we played or who we got in the final as long as we were there with the chance of going up.
“The gaffer has been keen to keep momentum and continuity and we’ve been on a fantastic run.
“That carried on into the play-offs and we now just need to take it one more step into the Championship.
“That would be fantastic for everyone and we all want to be there. I should be fighting fit in the very near future and then ready to go with the rest of the lads in pre-season.”
Clark took the whole squad away for a bonding trip over this weekend and they will be back in Huddersfield today.
