Gareth Barry has no time to lose at West Brom after injury

The 38-year-old made his long-awaited return to the pitch on Saturday, coming on for 20 minutes in the 2-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday.

It marked a long lay-off for the former England international, who missed the end of last season and eventually had surgery for his knee injury.

Having re-signed with the club at the beginning of the month, Barry is now looking to get more minutes on the pitch as Albion prepare to host Bristol City tonight.

It continues a run of fixtures that sees the Baggies face potential promotion rivals, including Preston and Swansea.

“There is unfinished business,” he said. “I joined the club in the Premier League and that really hurt to be a part of a relegation side.

“Last season I was desperate to try to put that right and nothing has changed since.

“I’m lucky that I’ve come back and the team are flying. I know the lads know that they’ll be a tough road ahead with a lot of games.

“While things are going well football seems easy but a couple of blips and it can seem tough again.

“We’re in the middle of a tough run of games now. If you look at the teams and the positions they’re in.

“My experience from last year is that every game is a tough one – home or away.

“I saw Sheffield Wednesday and how organised they were. We’ll expect another tough test but it’s testament to the character of the lads we’ve got here that we’ve found ourselves behind in many games this year and we’ve always finished strong.

“The manager and the lads deserve a lot of credit.”

Throughout his rehabilitation, and time as a free agent while recovering at Albion, Barry admits that the mental struggle had a toll on him. But he says the easy option would have been to retire.

“I’m just glad to be back in the action really,” he added. “It’s the end of a long road from missing the end of last season, having the operation and then the real hard work in between.

“It plays with your mind... ‘do you really want to do this, do you really want to get back?’ – it’s natural to have thoughts at my age, is it the right time to call it a day?

“But that was probably the easy option and I didn’t want to finish on an injury.

“It was great to be back out there.

“To get three points and keep the run going just makes it even better because it’s still all about winning football games.

“Last year we were in and around it, I felt I was playing well over the Christmas period, right up until the injury.

“It was tough watching the lads at the end of the season in the play-offs.

“I was gutted for them and when you can’t help that hurts even more.

“That plays on your mind when you’re trying to get back fit again. Hopefully this season can be different.”

And despite the contract confusion with his old club Everton, Albion’s medical staff continued to support Barry throughout his injury.

He continued his rehabilitation at the club, played in reserve games and has now made his first team return – something he says is down to the doctors.

“They (the medical staff) were fantastic,” he said.

“Nobody knew the situation, I was out of contract.

“The duty of care was always there and they gave me the hours that the injury deserved.

“They were coming in on their holidays to help me keep the fitness up and look after the rehabilitation.

“I owe a lot to them and I’ve let them know that too. With the contract situation at Everton, it might have held me back two or three weeks, which was a little bit frustrating.

“I’m just glad that’s all sorted again and for the sake of a couple weeks it’s helped me build up a bit more fitness.

“I’m feeling good now.”