West Ham United defender Winston Reid says that his recovery from injury is on track and admits that he is better able to cope with injuries now than he was earlier in his career.
The defender suffered a freak knee injury against Swansea in a Premier League clash in March and was forced to undergo surgery in July.
The 30-year-old made 18 league appearances for West Ham last season, but has had to endure a challenging seven months away from the game due to the injury.
The New Zealand international, who joined the club from FC Midtjylland in 2010, admitted that his rehabilitation is going in the right direction as he continues to travel on the road to recovery.
Reid also added that he is now in a better position to cope with the injuries than he was early on his career, while suggesting that it is frustrating to be away from football for so long.
“Everything is going well”, Reid told the club’s official website.
“Obviously, when you have an operation you never know how things are going to look on the other side, but it’s going better than we thought so that’s positive.
“Obviously it is frustrating to be out for long periods of time, especially with the way it happened, but you have to get through it and you have to deal with it.
“There’s not so much I could have done about what happened.
"It’s not like I’m someone who is repeatedly pulling my hamstrings.
“This was just one of those unfortunate injuries you hope not to get in your career, but football is a contact sport and it’s just one of those things you have to deal with.
“Fortunately enough, I am a little bit older and I am probably able to deal with it better with an injury like this than if I was in my early twenties and in the early part of my career."
Without Reid, West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini has preferred a centre-back pairing of two new boys, in the shape of Issa Diop and Fabian Balbuena.
