Lloyd Kelly
CHERRIES skipper Lloyd Kelly is keen to “push on” following his return from injury, with the defender sharing: “I’m just looking forward to the future.” The Bristol City academy graduate played the full 90 minutes of Cherries’ 2-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night, with Kelly coming through the fixture unscathed, one of a few positives for the Dorset outfit. Kelly had not played a competitive game for Cherries since the 3-2 comeback win away at Nottingham Forest in September, suffering a 12-week injury layoff after sustaining an ankle injury in training. Speaking to the Daily Echo at Stamford Bridge,
Lloyd Kelly said: “I mean, it’s been a long twelve weeks, putting a lot of work in, to be able to get back to where I am. I think now it’s just time to push on. The past is there for a reason, and now I’m just looking forward to the future and making sure that I keep pushing on as much as I can.”
Although Kelly had the personal positives of playing a full 90 minutes in his journey back to full fitness, the club captain admitted that the first-half performance was not up to standard, requiring changes at the break.
Lloyd Kelly continued: “I think everyone can see the first half is difficult. You could say we started slowly in many areas. Then we went in at halftime, knew we needed to make a couple of changes, and we did. We came out second half and kind of put out foot in the game a little bit, put them under pressure a little bit more, and that showed in the second half. We were able to have a lot more progress up the field.”
Last season Kelly frequently spoke about taking the highs and lows of the campaign into account to remain level-headed, Cherries’ eventual promotion from the Championship hitting a few bumps along the way. With Cherries now facing a different challenge in the Premier League, Kelly is again keen to take the rough with the smooth, insisting that the challenge of the top-flight was more than expected at the Vitality Stadium.
Lloyd Kelly restarted: “I think it’s something that we kind of realised early on (this season), it’s nothing that came as a surprise. Of course, when you come into the Premier League, it is a different game in itself. The teams that you’re playing against, the squad depth and the quality of players nothing has come as a surprise in that sense. Of course I’m going to keep a level head and just make sure I do the right things on a daily basis and that’ll put me in good stead for the games.”
