Matt Targett has admitted that his time on the sidelines was ‘so frustrating’ as the Newcastle United defender looks to put his injury nightmare behind him.
Targett has not kicked a ball for the first team in nearly nine months. The defender suffered a nasty hamstring injury in Newcastle’s 3-0 win at Manchester United last November and had only been back a week when he tore his Achilles in the spring. No wonder the 28-year-old described that setback as a ‘kick in the teeth’.
Targett missed all of Newcastle’s pre-season games as a result, but the left-back returned to action for the club’s under-21s in the Tyne-Wear derby clash against Sunderland at Whitley Park on Monday night. Targett, like fellow defender Kieran Trippier, got 45 minutes under his belt in front of Eddie Howe, who was watching on from the stands.
Having been named on the bench for Newcastle’s season opener against Southampton at the weekend, Targett has half an eye on making his competitive return for the first team in the Carabao Cup clash at Nottingham Forest next week following the most testing period of his career.
“It’s been tricky,” he told NUFC TV. “Obviously, with the operation on the hamstring, you’re getting your head around that so you have your targets, when your return to play dates are, and I got back just before the March or April international break. That was always the aim and then after that you get a tear in your achilles so you have to stop again.
“It was frustrating. The whole season was frustrating. When you look at the start of the season, it’s full of excitement, especially with the Champions League. You think there are so many opportunities with the amount of games we had so to not be available for them was difficult.
“It’s not a nice feeling. You want to be there for your team-mates, you want to be there for the coaching staff, and it’s so frustrating when you’re not available.”