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Garath McCleary says his latest injury was the hardest to come to terms with.
The winger has suffered various problems in recent years and spent eight months on the sidelines after fracturing a bone in his ankle in an innocuous looking incident as he fired in a cross against Sheffield United on a freezing evening in February.
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He had been due to return ready for the start of a new campaign but after his initial rehabilitation did not work as planned, the Jamaican was forced to undergo surgery.
McCleary finally made his first team return in the 3-1 victory over Millwall in October and has featured in all eight of Reading’s matches since, starting four.
But he admits it was a rocky road back to fitness.
“All those injuries I’ve had are hopefully now behind me,” said the 31-year-old.
“I’ve had a few. The last one that I had was the hardest one for me to take.
“Probably because I expected to come back at a certain time and when you put all your eggs in that basket to come back at that time and then not and there’s a setback, I think it was very hard mentally for me to take.
“But now with my ankle, knee, whatever it is, I feel as good as I did before and if I can keep up with my prehab I’ll be fine.”
He added: “For me I feel that’s the worst part of football.
“I’ve had a few injuries now and it’s not that you don’t feel a part of the squad but there’s certain things (like) you may be in at a later time and you obviously see the boys out training and you don’t feel as much of a part of it as you did when you were playing.
“But when I was injured I had family members and players here that helped me along the way.
“For example I would say Jordan (Obita), who is still injured at the moment, but he helped me along the way and I have been trying to help him along the way as well.
“That’s either pushing each other in the gym or just being that person to talk to.
“It’s been hard and I think that’s a part that many people don’t see.
“They just think because you play football it’s not as hard but when you can’t do what you’re supposed to be paid for, it is very tough.”
McCleary will hope to be involved again when Reading head to Rotherham United on Saturday afternoon (3pm).
Led by caretaker boss Scott Marshall as a search for a new permanent manager continues following the departure of Paul Clement, the Royals will be seeking to pick up the points needed to haul themselves out of the relegation zone.
And the long-serving Royal admits it has been a difficult season.
“It has been tough,” said McCleary.
“There’s been many games where we’ve been working hard but we haven’t had the rub of the green and there’s been many games where we just haven’t been good enough.
“But training’s positive. It’s been positive this week and Scott’s put a new way of how he wants us to play so hopefully we can take that into the game on Saturday and pick up the points.”
