Jon Guthrie admits to 'doubts' and 'dark days' after making long-awaited comeback on 'surreal' night
Returning Cobblers skipper Jon Guthrie described it as a ‘surreal’ night when making his long-awaited return to competitive action after admitting to many ‘dark days’ during his 10 months out.
Northampton’s long-time leader, who’s been at the club for nearly four and a half years, received a wonderful reception from the Sixfields crowd when he came on as a late substitute in Tuesday’s EFL Trophy win over Shrewsbury Town, his first appearance since suffering an ACL injury on New Year’s Day.
And he almost immediately did what he does best, producing a vital late block to deny a certain goal and ensure victory.
"It’s obviously a really big step for me,” said Guthrie. “It’s taken a lot of hard work to get to this point and it feels a bit surreal to finally get out there with the boys again, and to get the win as well makes it a really good night. You have a lot of thoughts on the sidelines, ‘when am I going to get on?’, ‘just don’t make any mistakes’, stuff like that, but once you’re on, you just switch on and look to see the game out.
"Now it’s over, it’s just a very good feeling to be back, and it was a lovely moment when I got a standing ovation. That means a lot and the messages from the fans has kept me going throughout my rehab. It’s been a long journey and I’ve had some dark days but to get that support gives me a big boost.”
An ACL injury is every footballer’s worst fear, particularly in the case of a 32-year-old entering the final six months of his contract, but, fortunately for Guthrie, he had a very strong support network.
"My wife’s been amazing,” he added. “I’m sure she’ll say I’ve been a bit of a grump, especially at the start, and I’ve probably not been the best husband or dad at times but all my family have been so supportive. They kept me going because it is hard to stop the doubts from creeping in and the timing obviously wasn’t ideal with me being out of contract but luckily the club were really good to me.
"I’m not exactly getting any younger either, and it was also my first long-term injury so it wasn’t something I had experienced before, but all of the staff have helped massively and now I want to kick on from this. I’m not suddenly going to be ready to start the next game or anything like that, and there’s still a lot of work to do, but this is just the first step and hopefully I can get back to playing regularly.”
Asked what he found hardest during his 10 and a half months on the sidelines, Guthrie replied: "I probably overthought a lot to be honest and I did struggle with that side of it but, to be here now, it’s all worth it. You can’t replicate the matchday feeling in training so to have experience again was really special.
"I’ve not had to rush back because the lads have been doing so well, competition is really strong in defence, and I’m definitely not expecting to walk straight back in, but hopefully I can help out and, ultimately, if the team’s doing well I’m happy.”