Cambridge United midfielder Adam May sees ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ as he closes in on return from knee injury
Of the batch of training photos that Cambridge United posted on their various social media channels last week, the shot that was most warmly received showed Adam May back out on the pitch with a ball at his feet.
It was on October 8 last year away at Bristol Rovers that May suffered the injury – along with a ruptured Achilles – that footballers fear the most.
Scans showed that his anterior cruciate knee ligament was in need of reconstructive surgery, ruling him out of the remainder of a season he had started so positively in the heart of United’s midfield.
For a player that had never previously had to contend with an injury of any significant note, the news that he would have to spend much of the next 12 months on the sidelines was initially tough to digest.
“I came off but even after that I kept trying to tell myself that it wasn’t anything too serious,” said the 25-year-old. “I left the game on crutches, hopefully as a precaution because we didn’t know what had happened, and it was a good couple of days before my scan because the swelling had to settle.
“All the time I’m telling myself it felt OK, I was walking around pretty normally, so getting the results back was a huge shock to the system. I wasn’t expecting it.
“I found it really difficult when the physios told me what the outcome was. I didn’t know how to take it and to be honest it took a few days, maybe a couple of weeks, to fully sink in.
“There’s no good time to get injured but I felt like it had come at a really bad time because we’d started the season well and I’d got off to quite a good start. It felt like I was really finding my feet at Cambridge, playing week in and week out.
“At the start, once I had my surgery I had a few weeks at home because I couldn’t do much, but I was itching to get back in. The main reason is because football is my life, it’s being in and working every day. And I was keen to get among the lads in the squad again.
“But it’s difficult once you are back in because you’re doing your stuff in the gym, looking at the same four walls, and you look outside and the boys are training. That’s difficult – one of the most difficult parts of the process – but it comes back to trying to stay as positive as you can.”
Yet after more hours than he cares to remember spent in the gym, May is approaching the end game.
As the recent picture showed he is now back out on the grass and while he is not currently working alongside his teammates, the hope is that as July becomes August the former Portsmouth man will be ready to reintegrate back into full training before a potential return to the matchday squad in September.
And it is not just physically that May feels in good shape. He has wrestled with doubts and concerns throughout the recovery process, but discussions with his surgeon have helped those to subside.
“You can see light at the end of the tunnel now. The hard work is still going on, but it feels like the real hard work was the nine months I’ve just had to get through,” May added.
“The work is still ongoing but I’m back out on the pitch every day, which is where I want to be and I’m feeling my fitness levels improving.
“You can get through it a lot easier (training out on the pitch) because being in the gym every day is tough. The days feel like they are going so slowly at times, but now I’m on the grass it feels like time has flown.
“It’s coming along really well at the moment. I seem to have stepped things up a lot in the last four weeks.
“I’m probably looking at the start of August to be back in training with the boys and then I’m probably going to need a good three or four weeks of training before I can get match fit.
“The schedule is to get me back playing and ready by about the middle of September, but the first step will be to get me back in training every day with the lads again.
“It’s all been pretty smooth sailing so far. The toughest bit is the mental battle. Physically I’ve done quite well all the way through. There was a little spell when I wondered if my physical strength is going to come back to what it was in the leg, but that just takes consistent work and it does eventually come back.
“There is just a lot going on in your mind. Am I going to be the same player? What’s it going to be like to kick a ball again when I’m back on the grass? Am I going to be able to run the same as I did? Little things like that, they niggle at you a bit.
“I spoke a lot to my surgeon, he put my mind at ease a lot. I asked a lot of questions at my check ups because I didn’t understand my body before this, especially because I hadn’t really had any injuries.
“He always helped me with the answers and it gave me a better understanding. That eased my mind. He assured me how successful the surgery is and that the recurrence rate of the injury is low. That makes you feel a little bit better.”
Like all U’s supporters, May felt powerless last season as the team toiled out on the pitch.
It looked for a long while that he would be returning to the squad as a Sky Bet League Two footballer, but a remarkable turn of events during the final few weeks of the campaign saw Cambridge retain their third tier status.
Nevertheless, he will rejoin a very different-looking squad, one that saw a raft of departures after the great escape.
Five new signings have arrived and with more set to follow before the new term gets under way on August 5, the hope is that a less dramatic ending will be required this time around.
May said: “We were in a tough position and the thought of getting relegated was not a nice feeling.
“At the start, being at home I couldn’t really go to games, but once I was back at the training ground I’d go to as many games as I could.
“Watching is completely different to playing, knowing that you have no control over the game or outcome. That was one of the toughest parts, especially because of the situation we were in, knowing that I could do nothing about it was one of the worst things.
“It was a case of knowing that your fate lies in your teammates’ hands.
“Any footballer wants to play and help their team out, especially when results aren’t going the right way. When you can’t it’s a difficult situation, but luckily the boys had an incredible end to the season.
“It’s going to be a different season because the last two or three years I’ve been at the club we’ve built a team and a core that stuck together.
“Everyone knew each other and everyone knew how we played so it’s going to be a different kind of environment with people moving on and new players coming in, but change can be a good thing.
“It’s a fresh start for everyone and hopefully that leads to it being a positive season for everyone and I hope I can play a key role. I had some good momentum (before the injury) and I’d started to play well. It felt like I had started to have an influence on the team.
“Don’t get me wrong, there is still more to come. I felt at the time before the injury I could still add more goals and assists to my game, but it was going well. I’m coming back with a positive mindset and I’ll be trying to get myself back in the team.
“It will be difficult at the start because I’ll be short on match minutes and I’ve got to ease my way back in, but once I’m back in full training and the fitness starts to return my main aim is to get back in that starting line-up and play every week.”
