Less is more for Weso following cruciate agony

INSPIRATIONAL: former Athletic midfielder James Wesoslowski has battled back from serious injury.

JAMES Wesolowski has been waiting for this game for a long time, as the slimmed-down former crowd favourite aims to make a remarkable comeback from injury tomorrow.

The midfield man from Sydney, Athletic’s player of the season in 2013-14 before dropping a division to move to Shrewsbury, is in line to take a place in Mick Mellon’s squad and could feature from the substitutes’ bench.

The look of the ground will be as new to Wesolowski’s eyes as the new appearance of the player — who has lost around a stone-and-a-half since sustaining a cruciate knee ligament injury — will be to home supporters.

“When I first saw the fixtures come out, I targeted this game,” Wesolowski, who missed the back half of the Shrews’ promotion campaign after sustaining the damage in a match against Hartlepool on January 17, told the Chronicle.

“That wasn’t only because I was looking forward to coming back to Oldham, where I really enjoyed my three years, but also because it served as a good target for me in terms of returning from injury.

“It has been a long time, but in a way the timing was good if that is possible for an injury like that, because I haven’t actually missed an awful lot of football compared to what could have been the case.”

Wesolowski has received praise from his boss Mellon for having an “inspirational” attitude in his recovery.

After extensive rehabilitation, he is a month ahead of schedule and played around 75 minutes in a specially arranged reserves run-out against Wigan on Wednesday afternoon.

No stranger to serious injury, this time around Wesolowski (28) confronted a truth which he believes will help serve to extend his time in the professional game.

“When I got injured, I was around 78 or 79 kilos which is too heavy anyway,” Wesolowski added.

“In my own mind I was getting away with it, as I was playing alright.

“But with the injury, it really clicked in my mind to get on top of it and I think it might even have ended up prolonging my career.

“I am eating right and living right now and have lost about 10 kilos from where I was.

“I feel lighter getting round the pitch and have been hitting the gym hard as well so don’t feel there is a pay-off in terms of losing any strength.”