It’s November, 2017, and half-time in Sunderland’s Championship home game against Millwall.
For Duncan Watmore, it’s just his sixth game back after a long and gruelling spell on the sidelines with a cruciate knee ligament injury.
And yet his return is short-lived. Against Millwall, Watmore was forced off just a couple of minutes before the break. Now, as his teammates are getting second half instructions, Watmore is dealt the devastating news from the club’s physio – he’s suffered a second horror ACL injury.
“That’s when I start thinking I don’t think I’m going to play football again,” Watmore says.
“You work so hard then it goes that quickly, you just think how can I ever get this back if I’ve done 12 months, had the best surgeons, done the rehab and it goes again. That was a really low point.”
Watmore, as positive a person off the pitch as he is a player on it, must tire of talking about those injuries and the testing times, but to truly appreciate his Boro success, you must consider those difficult recent years and the obstacles he’s overcome.
For years, Watmore’s story was…
