Fit-again Elliott Bennett pays tribute to Shrewsbury staff

The former Blackburn defender missed the start of the season after he went under the knife to solve an ongoing ankle issue.

But the wingback has come back into the first-team fold of late playing the full 90 minutes in Salop's last two league games.

And he has hailed the support from both medical and management staff during his recovery.

"For me being injured the physios were massive for me," he said when asked about his rehabilitation.

"Chris Whalley (the fitness coach) was there trying to make sure that when I was coming back, I was ready to go.

"Without the people in the background that you don't get to see week in and week out, you have not got a football club.

"They deserve a lot of credit.

"You get fitter when you play games, of course, but I feel like I have put in a lot of hard work behind the scenes and on the training ground.

"You know the manager had me doing his favourite run.

"It is not nice, but the gaffer knows what it takes to get players fit to make sure you are available and robust for the season."

Bennett featured 42 times last season for Steve Cotterill.

And the 33-year-old is incredibly experienced, having made more than 400 professional appearances in his career.

It is a huge benefit to the squad to have a player of Bennett's ability back amongst the fold helping out the team.

And he revealed that at times while he was out doing the running on his own has been hard.

He said: "It is tricky when you are in the moment.

"I have done a lot of running on my own which is not as hard as pre-season because the gaffer's pre-season is very hard.

"But it is hard doing it on your own, doing those same runs but without the support of the lads doing it with you. It is tough, but the end goal is to play football and be available as much as I can.

"I am just happy to be back.

"We have got a really good group of lads in the dressing room.

"Everyone kept my spirits up, and I am quite a positive person anyway so I was trying to work hard knowing that eventually, I will get the chance to be back out on the grass.

"It was just making sure my body was ready to take the demands the gaffer puts on us."