MATT GLENNON may be hobbling around on crutches at the moment, but he is far from downhearted.

The 30-year-old goalkeeper is in the early stages of rehabilitation from operations on both knees and won’t be fully mobile again for weeks.

But even though the chirpy character is already resigned to missing the rest of Town’s bid to make the League I play-offs this season, he’s still got a smile on his face.

That’s because he is convinced the surgery will help him prolong his career and enable him to return to action in the peak of fitness for next term.

“I’m feeling okay about the whole thing because I’ve got it straight in my mind that it’s about getting myself perfectly ready for next season,” said Glennon, who is spending extra time with his daughters Alannah (6) and Imogen (almost 20 months).

“I had been suffering with some scratching behind my left kneecap which was getting gradually worse and then with the right one, the specialist felt someone must have kicked a lump out of the bone at some stage and it needed tidying up.

“The work was done on both of them on February 23 and the great thing is that they didn’t find anything that couldn’t be sorted out.

“You never know what they are going to find, so it’s a relief to know they have cleaned things up as they wanted to and I can now concentrate on getting myself well.”

That will be a lengthy process for the man who has played 122 times for Town and hardly suffered an injury in a career which has taken him through Bolton, Port Vale, Stockport, Bristol Rovers, Carlisle (twice), Hull, Falkirk and St Johnstone.

“I’ve been very lucky – and I hope it continues!” smiled Glennon, whose last senior appearance was in the 1-0 home defeat by Leyton Orient in November, since when Alex Smithies has been in.

“Throughout my career I’ve never really had an injury. I broke an arm when I was 18 and I missed a month at Hull with a side strain, but that’s been pretty much it – I’ve always been fit.

“While I know I’m now going to be out for the rest of the season, at least I know I can get myself ready for pre-season and that it’s going to be a long-term thing.

“If I try to come back too quickly then it might cause a problem for the future, so I’m going to take my rest and get myself right.

“I haven’t been able to do anything so far because I’m on two crutches, but on Monday I get rid of one of those and then in another 10 days or so the other one will go.

“After that, I should be able to get in the gym and do some non-weight bearing exercise on the bikes and machines and also my share of swimming.”

Glennon admits he’s missing the daily banter with his colleagues at the Galpharm, but he feels it’s a small price to pay for prolonging his career as a whole.

“I’ve not been through this before, so it feels a bit strange, but I’m looking after the kids and watching a lot of children’s TV!” he said.

“Not being around the lads and joining in all the chatter is odd, but I’m still staying in touch with quite a few of them.

“I managed to get down to the game last Saturday against Millwall, which wasn’t the easiest thing to do, and I had to leave before the end to avoid having to sit in the queues in the car, so I missed the deciding goal.

“The whole trip was a bit testing, but I know I’m getting a lot better and that’s what is cheering me up.”

Glennon would love to be involved, of course, but he remains confident Town can overcome their recent setbacks and press for a top-six place.

“It’s been very frustrating because, talking to the lads who have been playing, it seems we just haven’t been killing people off when we’ve been in charge,” he explained.

“We’ve been a bit unlucky as well, which is a shame because we’ve got ourselves into a great position.

“I still think we are capable of coming with that late run which someone always seems to produce to make the play-offs.

“We’ve played a lot of the leading sides twice, so there are a lot around who we should be able to go and beat.

“I’ve seen it happen before and I’ve been at clubs where it has happened before – so I don’t see any reason why we can’t push to extend our season this time.

“We’ve got good players, a top management team and everything in place if we can just get ourselves on the run we need.”

By the time it comes to the crunch for this season, Glennon hopes to be well on the way to full fitness and being ready to pressure his younger colleagues Smithies and Simon Eastwood, who have both signed new deals.

“It’s a lot of cycling and swimming for me and I won’t be able to start running for another eight or nine weeks,” he added.

“I’ve just got to grin and bear it, but if it adds a few more years onto my career then it will be well worth it.”