Melbourne Heart marquee Orlando Engelaar made his long awaited debut in the 3-1 win against Newcastle on Friday night, and he hopes to see more success and game time in the coming weeks.
Engelaar was brought on in the 59th minute, coming through unscathed after only the solitary youth league cameo for match fitness.
“I felt great,” he said of his debut.
“I’ve been away for quite some time; I think it was four and a half months, so yeah it’s just great to be on the pitch again.
“After a few minutes I was pretty tired, but that’s something that you just need to get over, and then you just go along with the pace of the game.”
The Dutch midfielder broke his leg during Heart’s pre-season, and his recovery has been a slow process, although it appears his injury troubles are finally behind him.
“My leg was ok, that’s was something I didn’t even think about, so that says a lot.
“I felt pretty comfortable, it’s always hard to get in a game – even harder if you haven’t played in four months.”
He was also proud of the effort of his teammates, adding that watching on from the sidelines and not being able to help his side on the pitch was frustrating.
“We played really well, I think we were the better team, so I felt good.
“It’s fantastic coming back like that. It’s been a hard few months also for me, even though I haven’t played, but you feel for the boys.”
Engelaar was also impressed by the support the Heart supporters showed the team, and in particular, to him.
“It’s beautiful to have a welcome like that – there were people saying you’re used to big things in Europe, but that all doesn’t matter, any player, doesn’t matter how big you are or who you are, if you get a welcome like that, it just does something to you and it feels good.”
The fans weren’t the only ones with support for the marquee man, as he reveals the large amount of support he recieved from his peers behind the scenes.
“Everybody’s been very good to me, very helpful,” he said.
“I could feel from the start that they really felt bad for me when I broke my leg so it just makes you want to come back even harder and faster.”
He’s looking to repay the faith and lead his teammates to some success on the pitch.
“It’s hard not being with the team from the start, because you want to be there to help them out, to be as good as you can.
“Not being able to do that has been hard but I’m looking forward to being there now every week.”