Burroughs reveals he has been 'playing in quite a lot of pain' this season

A summer signing from Coventry, the versatile right-back was a regular in pre-season and then made nine appearances in all competitions before the end of September, but did not start again until last week’s win over Mansfield.

Between manager Kevin Nolan, the club's medical department and Burroughs himself, a decision was made to take him out of the team and allow his Achilles to get the rest it needed to fully recover.

"I’m feeling good now,” said Burroughs this week. “It’s nice to be back after a bit of time out. I was struggling throughout most of the season with my Achilles and I found it tough, so it was good to be back on the pitch and feeling pain-free again, and to get those two wins, I was buzzing.”

Elaborating on his injury, Burroughs explained: “Pretty much since the start of pre-season I’ve been playing in quite a lot of pain and it got to the point that I had to address it after the Chelsea game in the Vertu Trophy.

"Pre-season was obviously tough and it was one of those where maybe I overloaded it a bit too much but it was just constant pain while playing and I also started to feel it around the house and just walking up and down the stairs and stuff like that.

"It was just something I had to address, my family were saying that I looked different on the pitch, so I came off it for a while and also saw a specialist because I’d rather fix the issue and get myself fully fit for the rest of the season.

“I came out of the team for a few weeks and did a lot of strength work, which helped a lot, and to come back in and be pain-free feels really good – this is the best I’ve felt in a long time. I almost feel like a new signing in some ways.”