Oxford United

Oxford United goalkeeper Ryan Clarke looks to be ahead of schedule as he recovers from an operation on a troublesome foot injury.

United’s player of the season and player’s player of the season had a long-standing problem on the top of his foot which required an operation to fuse two bones together. After a successful operation Ryan is now looking forward to the next stage of his recovery, as he told www.oufc.co.uk this morning:

“The operation went well and I am probably a week ahead of schedule already. I was supposed to be in a cast for two weeks but I had an x-ray and everything had healed well so I went into an air cast instead. So far everything looks really positive. I am still not allowed to put any weight on it, obviously, they told me that would be four or five weeks, but it seems to be going well so far.”

Ryan and fiancée Sarah celebrated the arrival of son Ralph three weeks ago and the popular goalkeeper is currently relishing spending time with his baby son:

“He is great. My operation means I get to spend a lot of time at home with him right now and with the weather how it has been I have loved the summer so far. With the World Cup starting as well I have the perfect excuse to sit with my feet up in front of the TV with him now!

“I will make the most of it because I know there is plenty of hard work ahead to get fit and start challenging for a place in the team again.”

Ryan is usually a quick healer but he knows that United are in safe hands while he is recovering, with New Zealand under-20 star Max Crocombe looking to seize his opportunity:

“Max has everything going for him and will do a great job for us. We are all fully behind him and I will be the first to wish him well because he deserves his chance. He hasn’t had the chance to play many games but I work with him in training every day and know how good he is. I hope he does really well in pre-season and then it will be up to me to come back fitter and stronger than ever and try and earn my place back in the team.”