DETERMINED Luke Winsper is desperate to overcome his injury woes and get back to full fitness in a bid to stake a regular place back in the Terras’ first-team squad.

The 22-year-old, who broke a metatarsal at Bashley in March which ruled him out of the rest of last season, suffered another lapse early in December with a trapped nerve between his metatarsal heads.

Winsper was given the all clear to start running again this week after having a cortisone injection, and was put through his paces at the Bob Lucas Stadium before Tuesday’s clash against Paulton Rovers, as well as being named in the matchday squad on his return.

Commenting on the injury, the midfielder told Echosport: “I had it for a couple of months before so I went to the hospital. They didn’t really know what it was and the pain got worse so I went back to sort it out.

“They said it was nothing to do with the old injury, it was just where my foot was still weak, so it wasn’t anything too serious about the metatarsal itself, I had probably just come back too soon.

“The injections sorted me out for now but it’s still aching because I have only recently had it.

“It was very painful, I couldn’t really walk much after it. I was hoping to go training the next day but it was never going to happen. Hopefully it does the trick though, if it doesn’t, it means I’ll have to have an operation on it this year.

“It has been very frustrating, when I was getting fit in the summer again I thought I would be fine but as soon as that happened it was a bit upsetting.

“I had to go private for the injection to get fit otherwise I wouldn’t be fit until February.

“My nickname at the club at the moment is chocolate because they think I’m made out of chocolate.

“I watch the games and I really want to be out there, we are top of the league and I really want to be a part of it, I want to get involved because when I have played this season I think I’ve done well coming off the bench and in the cup games.”

Winsper featured on dual registration terms in a bid to obtain match sharpness for Western League outfit Sherborne Town earlier in the campaign, and performed a starring role on his debut with a goal and two assists against Slimbridge in November.

And while being hopeful of remaining injury-free for the rest of the season, the Terras’ man is not ruling out a return to the Zebras’ squad to get up to speed once more.

“Even if we haven’t got training, I might go training with Sherborne if they have it to get myself going,” he added.

“The manager at Sherborne has given me a few texts and asked when I’m going to be fit, hopefully I could go down there if Jason (Matthews) wants me to, it’s all about what he wants for me and what’s best for the club.

“I need to stay fit and not get injured again if I want to stay with the squad because I’m sure Jase is not going to want an injury-prone player going into next season.

“Hopefully I can be injury-free for the rest of the season and go into next season fully fit.”