Walsall's Jack Earing happy to be out the gym and back in the mix
Walsall midfielder Jack Earing is glad to see the back of the gym and the treatment room and to get back playing again.
He says the motivation to get off the treadmill and on to the pitch was partly the catalyst for him coming back ahead of schedule.
Earing started games in the early part of the season but was struggling with an Achilles issue he picked up in the summer.
He was out for an extended period of time after the league fixture with Tranmere at the end of September, having struggled in the weeks leading up to that game.
The 23-year-old was enjoying an extended run in the team after joining the club in July 2021 and admits it was tough spending so much time in the gym.
He said: “It is tough when you see the lads out on the training round and preparing for games you know you won’t be involved in.
“That is a motivation to get fit because it can be a lonely place to be – as much as you see other players every day who are injured or coming back to fitness you just want to be kicking a ball around.”
Earing had Joss Labadie and Joe Riley for company in the gym in recent weeks but is now back in the squad after coming on at Carlisle in the league game and last week against Crawley.
He faces tough competition in a crowded midfield which has looked increasingly sound in Walsall’s recent good run of results but is prepared to wait for his chance and be as versatile as possible,
He said: “Any player who has been injured will have to earn the right to get hack into the team and confidence is rightly sky high at the moment, in training and in games.
“I have come on the last two games, enjoyed myself and hopefully contributed to the team. I am prepared to wait for a starting shirt and play however or wherever the boss wants me to if it means I get in the team.”
Meanwhile, Earing admits the magic of the FA Cup still holds true for him and he is itching to get a Cup run going after some false starts in previous seasons.
He was at Bescot last season when Walsall went out at home to Swindon Town in the second round of the competition.
Before then, when at FC Halifax Town, his team went out at the fourth qualifying round stage to Harrogate Town and South Shields.
He said: “I think all footballers want a Cup run for their team if they can get it and I’m no different.
“So far in my career the FA Cup hasn’t really been kind to me but with a home draw for Walsall against Carlisle you never really know, although they will be thinking the same so it will probably be a close game.”
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