After establishing himself as Mark Hughes’ first choice right back in recent weeks, Stephen Kelly was forced to watch Saturday’s draw with West Ham United from the sidelines due to injury.
The Republic of Ireland international defender sustained a calf injury during Fulham’s recent draw with Everton at Craven Cottage, and whilst the injury left him deeply frustrated, Kelly hopes to make a return to action very soon.
“It’s frustrating to get injured in the way I did after playing week-in, week-out,” Kelly told fulhamfc.com. “It turned out to be a calf tear but not as serious as they first thought.
“I don’t really go to ground that easily but as soon as I went up for the header I just felt a pop and felt pain straight away. It’s very frustrating for me after having hopefully having made a good mark in the right-back spot.
“I’m progressing quite well and it’s feeling a lot better so if I’m lucky I could be back in training at the end of this week if it keeps progressing at the same rate.
“I was playing at left-back before but since Carlos Salcido has come in the Manager’s put me back to my natural position which has been great. It’s nice that he decided to give me a chance after seeing what I did at left-back.
“I’m happy to play anywhere across the back four. You’re always happy when you’re playing but you always like to play in your best position and, for me, I think my strongest position is at right-back. It’s great that the Manager’s shown confidence in me.”
Under Hughes’ guidance many players have been given a greater attacking licence this season and that attacking philosophy also holds true for the full-back position, as Kelly told fulhamfc.com.
“From my point of view you can definitely see that there are a lot more opportunities to get forward and get crosses in,” he said. “I think the way we played before was a lot more regimented; the Manager wants us to have that same stability and steely defensive quality but he also encourages us to get forward.
“You don’t just go galloping forward at every opportunity, you have to see what’s happening on the other side of the pitch – you don’t want both full-backs to be caught up the pitch on the counter-attack. It’s all about timing your runs and making sure you're going at the right time.
“Hopefully I think he sees in me a player who can get forward and get back at the same time – it’s an attribute he looks for in his players, the ability to do both jobs. I think he’s seen that in other players in the team too.
“He talks about the players being very dynamic and putting pressure on the opposition. It’s great to be able to show a part of my game that I love doing.”