Carlisle Utd export Joe Garner firing again after injury agony
Last updated 12:40, Wednesday, 26 November 2008
Joe Garner controls the ball with his left foot on the edge of the box. Sensing two defenders bearing down on him, he cleverly flicks it on to his right foot.
He pivots at the hip and, with a coolness bordering on arrogance, goes past two Bristol City defenders as if they’re training ground dummies.
Then, with perfect control and precision timing, the Nottingham Forest striker curls an exquisite shot past the onrushing keeper from six yards, before giving a broad grin and raised arm salute towards the lights of a dozen flashbulbs.
Cocky, stylish, assured. Seven months on the sidelines have clearly done nothing to hamper Joe Garner.
The former Carlisle United striker is quickly re-establishing his reputation as one of the hottest prospects outside the Premiership.
Floored by a knee ligament damage in February, Garner admits he was swamped by dark thoughts about the future as he battled back from an injury capable of ending the career of some players.
He describes the moment he damaged his anteria cruciate ligament in a 1-0 win over Crewe as like a gunshot in the back of the knee.
The shattering blow cut him down at a time when he was in flying form with 14 goals, which helped United collect four wins out of five games during February and cement their place in the top two in League One.
The absence of their top-scorer during the final three months of the season seriously damaged United’s prospects and Garner could only watch frustrated from the stand as they missed out on an automatic promotion place, before losing in the play-offs to Leeds United as the season ended in disappointment.
It said everything about the high regard in which Garner is held that Forest – promoted to the Championship in second place – were prepared to splash out £1.14million on the 20-year-old in July while he was still going through the long recovery process. Six games into his comeback for Colin Calderwood’s side, Garner is quickly back in his stride – so much so it’s as if he’s never been away.
He has quickly won over Forest fans with his aggressive, all-action style, and capped his return with a goal in a 2-2 draw with Bristol City.
Garner, who has formed a promising strike partnership with Nathan Tyson, below right, said: “It’s just great to be back – and getting the goal soon after returning was great for me. It was a big risk by the manager signing a player who was injured.
“He wanted to take a gamble and he showed a lot of faith in me so I have got to repay that.
“He knew what I was about but it was still a lot of money to pay.”
Garner suffered the devastating injury at the end of February and once doctors established the extent of the injury, he was expected to be sidelined until Christmas at the earliest.
All his rehab work was done at Blackburn Rovers – the club United paid a record £140,000 when they signed him on the eve of last season.
Two unnamed Championship clubs had £1million offers for Garner knocked back in January and Premiership clubs also had the highly-rated young striker on their radar after his impressive start to life at Brunton Park, but he then hit the depths of despair after suffering the injury.
Garner said: “It’s taken a lot of hard work and a lot of luck to get back after just seven months.
“I didn’t have a holiday as I spent all summer in the gym when all the other players were away. Being on your own in the gym was hard but it was something that had to be done – and now I’m reaping the rewards.
“It was a serious injury and at one point in time it would have cost players their careers. Surgeons these days are good so I never worried about what could happen.
“Once I started running again, things were much easier. I was running straight lines after four months and kicking a ball after two or three months.”
Garner’s injury was a significant factor in United’s promotion dream perishing during last season’s run-in as they badly missed his goals, pace and awkward attacking presence.
The young striker still managed to achieve his dream of stepping up to the Championship as Forest claimed one of the two automatic promotion places last season.
His return to action has boosted Forest’s hopes of surviving the drop as they are currently bottom of the table with just two wins so far this season. Garner still has one eye on his former team-mates at Brunton Park – and is backing Greg Abbott not only stave off the threat of relegation to League Two but to rejuvenate promotion hopes via the play-offs.
He said: “All the Carlisle lads will be behind Greg. he’s very good at what he does and I’m sure he will turn things round. He’s a very good motivator and very good at dealing with players one-to-one.
“I really enjoyed myself up there as the people and the club were brilliant.
“Everyone wants to better themselves and I wanted the chance to play in the Championship. My leaving Carlisle was nothing against the club – it was purely down to ambition.
“I started my career at a Premiership club – and that’s where I want to end up.”
