Motherwell striker hopes injury nightmare is behind him
Apostolos Stamatelopoulos hopes his first goal in seven months means he can put last season's injury nightmare behind him.
The Australian striker had barely set foot in Lanarkshire before tearing a thigh muscle in his first start, a 2-1 defeat against Rangers at Hampden, then scored in a 2-2 Fir Park draw against the Ibrox club in December, and then suffered a calf injury.
As he was staging a comeback from those injuries, Stamatelopoulos fractured a wrist in a freak training accident in March that ended his season.
So netting the opener in Tuesday night's 3-0 win over Morton to win Premier Sports Cup Group G and qualify for the last-16 was a major relief for the 26-year-old from Adelaide.
The striker showed predatory instinct to bundle the ball in after Morton keeper James Storer had superbly parried Johnny Koutroumbis' netbound volley, his first goal since December 29.
He said: 'Being out for seven months, it was a tough time. From game to game it has been a while, and it's the first time that has happened in my career, so it's taken a bit of adjusting to get back to that.
'It has definitely been tough. I mean, the whole of last season, I would have said, was pretty tough.
'There was a little bit of a run of games where I thought OK, I'm starting to feel like myself again, and then I got injured again.
'The broken wrist was in training, just a freak accident, really. We were playing small-sided games, one of the boys took a shot and hit me from like a metre away, and it shattered. It was just unlucky.
'I'm just putting it behind me and looking forward to playing games week in, week out, and scoring goals.
'It's good that I've got a full pre-season now under my belt and I feel confident in my body.
'I've still got a long, long way to go, but I'm getting there and I'm looking forward to the season.
'I mean, no-one's really going to remember in six months' time how the goal went in.
'Once that went in, it was just like a massive relief after so long.'
Stamatelopoulos' next forays are likely to be in a friendly against Hertha Berlin at Fir Park on Friday night, before they host Rangers in their Premiership opener on August 2.
He said: 'Getting my first one, and thankfully it happened before the season started, means I'm definitely looking forward to the next two games.
'They'll be tough, but I'm looking forward to the challenge.
'I feel like my movement was decent, I could be a little bit sharper, but that's what I live for in the box.
'There were a few times where I gambled the wrong way, and I had made a different run, I would have had another couple of tap-ins.
'It's just finding that partnership with team-mates, knowing what they want to do in certain situations, and then more goals will come, for sure.
'Hopefully by the time the season comes I'm ready to go. I mean, that was my first time I played 90, so I started cramping towards the end, but the body's getting there.
'Every single time I had an injury, I was just taking each day as it comes. Like I'll do this season, every day as it comes, each match as it comes, and go from there.'
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