FC Halifax Town: “I’m going to come back stronger than ever” - Stenson keeping positive on the road to recovery

The forward was forced off on his debut in the 1-0 defeat against Wealdstone on November 10, having recovered from a hamstring injury picked up in pre-season, and has been ruled out for the rest of the campaign.

“I went to close down the full-back, he’s chopped inside and I’ve gone to go with him, I planted my right foot and it got stuck into the ground,” Stenson explained.

“My body went but my knee didn’t.

“I had a pain in my leg and I just felt like I twisted my knee to start with.

“Because it was so early in the game, I had a lot of adrenaline going through me, being my first game.

“With the Covid and players being injured, I just told myself I needed to carry on.

“It felt alright, it just felt jarred, I just felt like I’d twisted my knee, because of the way I moved, the way I stopped still and turned, I just felt like it wasn’t anything serious.

“I came back on and got given the ball straight away, I passed the ball, put my foot down and that’s when I felt it really go and I knew there was something wrong, and screamed in pain.

“Then I got examined by the physio and the doctor afterwards and they said ‘you’ve definitely done something, we’ll get you booked in for a scan ASAP’.

“I think it was the next day, I went and got a scan and got my results.”

Those results revealed Stenson had completely torn his anterior cruciate ligament, suffered a grade two tear on his medial cruciate ligament and torn his meniscus.

“Why do one when you can do all three!” he joked.

“I was absolutely gutted, I was devastated.

“Especially coming back from a hamstring injury as well.

“I had my one injury in the past, my big injury, but other than that I’ve never had any injuries.”To come into a new club where I can’t wait to get going, can’t wait to show what I can do, and go and do two injuries in such a short space of time, when I got that news I was absolutely devastated.”

Has he come to terms with the severity of the injury yet?

“I have a little bit. I won’t fully come to terms with it,” he said.

“I had my initial sulk over the first week but now I’m just determined to come back stronger from it.”

“t is what it is, it’s happened and I just want to come back as fit as I can and as strong as I can next season.

“The only thing that has bothered me is that I’m injured, and that I’m not playing football and not helping the lads.

“I’ve come here to prove a point, and I can’t.

“In my head now is, I’m just going to come back stronger than ever. There’s no doubt in my mind that I’m not going to come back fitter and stronger than I was before.”

Stenson praised Town for their help since his injury occurred, saying the club has been “unbelievable”.

“They’ve been so supportive from the moment I did it,” he said.

“Just reassuring me that the lads are behind me, that the club’s behind me.

“I’ve got some good people around me and that’s what’s keeping me motivated, keeping me determined to get back fitter than I was before.

“When I had that big injury before, I wasn’t at a professional club so it was very difficult getting scans, trying to get an operation sorted and trying to find out what it was.

“But luckily I’ve got such a good club behind me that I’ve managed to be scanned straight away, I’m seeing a specialist so hopefully I get my op sorted - it just makes it that bit easier because I have an end target, whereas previously I just didn’t know what was going on.”

Stenson hopes to have his operation at the start of January.

“I was on crutches for the first two weeks. I still have them, which I do need to use,” he said.

“But now I’m able to stand in the shower and go to the toilet and not need my crutches.

“I’ll still have them up until my op, and then after that I’ll need them again.”

It is not the first time Stenson has sustained a serious injury in his career, having spent two-and-a-half years out of the game due to a hip problem.

So the 26-year-old knows the importance of a positive mindset to get through the next few months.

“If I don’t stay positive it’s going to be a long old journey, so the more positive I stay, the easier it’s going to be for me coming back,” he said.

“When you’re playing football, that’s all you want to do, so when you get injured and it’s taken away from you, it has a massive effect on your life.

“At the minute, I haven’t left my bed in three weeks. I have a little boy, who I can’t do anything for.

“So on top of not playing football, I can’t do anything around the house, I can’t help with my son. It has a massive effect on your mental health as a person.

“I’m quite strong-minded but for other people in football, I can see why people struggle.

“Being injured is a side of football which fans don’t see, and what footballers have to cope with behind-the-scenes, it’s not nice.

“But luckily I’ve got a good club around me, a good bunch of lads, good staff, and that’s what you need,

“You need those kinds of people to get you through it.”You learn a lot about yourself. It does bring out a side of you that you didn’t know you had.

“With the injury I had before, being 18, 19 at the time, being grumpy and negative doesn’t solve anything.

“It is what it is, it’s happened now, you can’t change what’s happened.”

Stenson said he will still be at training and games to keep involved with the first-team squad.

“I’m a part of the team and the best thing for me to do is be around the lads, helping as much as I can, whether that’s giving a bit of advice, cheering someone up or getting players going,” he said.

“It’s good to be around, and training-wise, as soon as I can walk around properly and get on my two feet, I’ll be back in the gym trying to improve myself as much as I can.”

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