Game of patience for returning Shrewsbury Town loanee Elliot Thorpe
Shrewsbury Town wing-back Elliot Thorpe has revealed it will take time to adapt to playing football again having recovered from injury.
The Luton Town loanee suffered a stress fracture in pre-season before he had played a competitive minute for Shrews.
But the 23-year-old got through his first 90 minutes in blue and amber on Tuesday evening as Town registered a 3-2 victory over Walsall in the EFL Trophy.
And Thorpe, who looked in a fair bit of discomfort in the final moments of that game, has revealed it will take him a bit of time to adjust to playing again.
“I am OK,” he said. “I think it is just an adaption thing really. It was a bit sore at the end, but it was just an adaption thing, my back is fine.
“It was just a bit sore. You will know, I have not played loads of minutes, I actually felt great in my legs and my lungs.
“Speaking to the physios and they have sort of said a couple more games and I will be fine.
“It is hard to say, it is a build-up thing, I just need to build up.”
It was a blow for Thorpe when he suffered the injury because he had not had the chance to show the Shrewsbury fans quite what he was capable of.
He returned home for his rehab and has revealed he was very limited with what he could do for the first four to five weeks.
“I was basically in bed for four or five weeks, as even though it was the tiniest little fracture you have to let it heal like any bone fracture,” he added.
“So I was at home going into Luton a little bit but I wanted to do my rehab here.
“I wanted to be around the team as I know it is very important to be around the team.
“I wanted to mix with the group, and because it was so early on I wanted to be around the boys just to get that sort of team feel.”
Thorpe and his Shrews team-mates travel to Blackpool to take on the Tangerines at Bloomfield Road today – a side Town did the double over in 2020/21.
The last time Town lost there was in 1996.
Morgan Feeney could be back involved for the first time since he suffered a hamstring injury against Northampton back almost six weeks ago.
But Nohan Kenneh and Max Mata will be on international duty.
