AFTER SCORING TWO on his last appearance at the Aviva Stadium, Robbie Brady was very nearly robbed of the chance to line out at the ground this weekend — by a dodgy surface.
The 23-year-old found the back of the net twice, including a stunning free-kick, in the 4-1 friendly win over the US in November but has been sidelined with a calf injury for the past three weeks after a training ground incident.
While Tigers boss Steve Bruce revealed that the wide man had “fallen down a hole”, Brady explained that the injury wasn’t quite as unusual as it sounds.
“It’s not as bizarre as everyone thinks,” Brady told the media today. “The training pitches at Hull weren’t in the best of conditions and on the Friday before we were to play Stoke I played a one-two and went to get on the end of it. A divot gave way under my foot and my calf popped.
“It was disappointing at the time but it has been a quick recovery since then. It wasn’t as bad as people were saying but I had enjoyed a good run of games up to it.”
Doctors told Brady he would be out for between four-six weeks. Remarkably, the Dubliner was back fighting fit in less than three. He has shown resilience to put himself back in the reckoning for a starting berth in Sunday’s Euro 2016 qualifier against Poland and says he had no intention of missing out on such an enormous occasion.
“If I have my eye on something, I think I’m going to be back no matter what. This time I was blessed it wasn’t as bad as it first felt. When it happened, one of the first things that popped into my head was this game.
“I was looking forward to getting ready for it but that just put a bump in the road. But I feel great, have done everything I need to do and I’ve got back for the game I really want to play in. Hopefully I can get a run on Sunday.”
With the match fitness of Stephen Ward still a worry despite his involvement in today’s training session, Brady is a realistic option for left full-back along with the versatile Marc Wilson.
Having impressed in that position in the victory over the US, he has also played wing-back for Hull in the past.
“Over the last couple of years I become a bit more familiar to the role after playing there and if he calls upon me on Sunday and needs me to play left back I’ll give 110% and hopefully we can come away with the result,” he said.
It’s a change but it is concentration more than anything else. You’ve got to work your mind more than your body, being quick and strong and getting your position right. The more I play there the more comfortable I feel.”
On scoring his second and third international goals against Jurgen Klinsmann’s side back in November, he added: I’ve always wanted to score at home and to get two in the one game was a brilliant feeling for me.
“I don’t want to stop there and hopefully I can get a few more in the next important games and as the years go on.”
