Reuben Hazell vows to rebuild Shrewsbury Town career

Experienced defender Reuben Hazell insists he is ready to re-launch his Shrewsbury Town career – and has his sights on claiming membership of football's 400-club.

A serious knee injury decimated Hazell's first season at the Greenhous Meadow, restricting him to eight starts and two substitute appearances.

Hazell has fully recovered from that setback and is now determined to reach a fresh landmark in a career which has already spanned 14 years as Town prepare to return to League One after their promotion success in the last campaign.

"I would love to reach 400 league games but it's one step at a time, and let's see where it goes," said the centre-half, who is 44 appearances short of the mark.

"The older you get, the more you realise you haven't got much time left so you try to get as much out of it as you can.

"It's probably the hardest I've ever worked in an off-season and there are targets I would like to reach.

"The knee is fine. It was good towards the end of last season and having a two-month break has given me a good chance to strengthen it even more.

"It feels better than ever so that isn't a concern for me."

Hazell is still niggled by the lengthy absence caused by an injury against Torquay in September and which meant he played no part in the promotion run-in.

He is determined to make up for lost time but accepts his first priority is to try and nail down a regular first-team role.

"I feel like I still have something to prove and you can never live off what you have done in the past," said the former Oldham skipper, who is currently training with the rest of his team-mates at RAF?Shawbury.

"Last season, for reasons that were out of my control, I didn't play as many games as I wanted to.

"When I did get back, Shane Cansdell-Sherriff and Ian Sharps were doing very well.

"Now they have moved on it doesn't automatically mean I'm going to play.

"I'm just getting my head down and hopefully that will get me in the team."

Hazell faces fresh competition in the heart of the defence from Darren Jones, who has signed from Aldershot this summer.

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