Perhaps no-one is anticipating Saturday’s opener more than Stockton Town full-back Josh Baggs.
That’s because Baggs is only just returning from an injury that kept him sidelined for ten months and meant he missed last season’s run-in.
“My recovery has been a long and slow process. It felt like it was almost stop-start at times,” Baggs reflected.
“Following Sam’s (Higgins) programme has helped me manage it a lot better. I am managing with it now and it feels like we’re nearly at the end of the road.”
Baggs finally made his long-awaited return in the 3-1 defeat at Horden CW. It provided an upside to a disappointing evening as Baggs looked accomplished in his cameo.
He has since started the final two friendlies at Blyth Spartans and then he played 67 minutes in the win over Middlesbrough U21.
“Pre-Season is always tough and it doesn’t help when you haven’t been playing football near ten months but it’s great to have a ball back at my feet.”
When a player is out for a long period of time it can be suggested that they can feel like ‘a new signing’ and that’s been said of Josh.
Although he’s keen to impress, it’s something he’s laughing off: “A ‘new signing’ haha, hopefully I can get back to where I was because I thought I was playing well.
“”I want to be able to bring what I did two seasons ago.”
The talking will be over on Saturday when Stockton finally take the pitch in their season opener at Ilkeston. The Anchors are facing a new-look Ilkeston who are now managed by Tris Whitman and Aaron Large after the departure of Ian Deakin at the end of last season.
“I am really looking forward to it as it’s my first league game since October,” Baggs beamed.
“The league is so tight as everyone is trying to build because we all believe we have a chance to go up. We’ve made the Play-Offs the last two seasons so we’re always trying to build on that.”
Closing out with a message to the fans ahead of the new season, Baggs said: “Get behind us as much as possible because we really do appreciate it. Hopefully it will be third time lucky.”
