FC Halifax Town: Injury still not sunk in yet, says Wembley hero McManus

McManus scored the winning goal against Grimsby just after half-time but went on to suffer a cruciate ligament injury later in the final.

The left-back now looks set to be ruled out of action until Christmas at the earliest and admits the disappointment might not register until Town kick-off their campaign and he is not involved.

“It’s not really sunk in yet to be honest,” said McManus. “It’s going to take a lot to put a downer on what happened at Wembley.

“I think it might only really sink in when it gets to the first league game.

“Obviously I’ll have to come and watch the boys but I won’t really want to because you just want to be on the pitch.

“I don’t look happy at the best of times so for me to come and watch football when I want to be playing, I can’t imagine my face will be very good to look at.”

McManus admits he feared the worst when the injury occurred.

“I just heard it crack and I knew it wasn’t good,” he said.

“I can kick a ball and it feels alright. I was walking around on holiday, went swimming.

“It doesn’t feel right but it doesn’t feel like it’d keep me out for six months.

“I could probably play at half-pace if I wanted to.”

The defender says the injury is the worst he has suffered in his career, but is trying to look on the bright side.

“I’ve only ever been injured when I did my groin a couple of years ago,” he said.

“I managed to play through the season with it and got an operation at the end of the season.

“But I’ve never missed six months of football before through injury.

“It’ll be hard but I’ll keep myself in the right frame of mind and be ready for when I’m called upon.

“I’ve just got to take the positives out of it. I’ll get to spend more time with my kids and do more with them, take my son to football on Saturdays because I won’t have to be at Halifax games until kick-off.”