Millwall defender Shaun Hutchinson takes the positive out of season-ending injury

BY RICHARD CAWLEY
richard@slpmedia.co.uk

Shaun Hutchinson is trying to focus on the upside after a calf problem brought his Championship campaign to a premature end.

The 30-year-old Geordie had played every minute in the league for Millwall before injury forced him off in the 1-0 win over Rotherham at the start of this month.

But now he is facing the prospect of losing some of his summer break getting back to full fitness.

“I felt like I was coming into my best form towards the end of the season – so that is a shame to be ruled out,” said Hutchinson. “The season has been not bad for myself.

“We all knew what this season was going to be like [in terms of fixture intensity] and I made sure I looked after myself in terms of my recovery to make sure I was as ready as possible.

“It is what it is. I’m only going to miss seven games when if it wasn’t the end of the season then I’d miss a good 12 or 13 matches. The boys have done well without me anyway.

“It now gives me a bit of downtime to get myself right and going for next season, which everyone is looking forward to – potentially having the fans back and the gaffer has already spoken about us being strong next year and giving it a right good go.

“It is exciting times, that helps to keep my spirits up and not let my head drop too much when I’m in the physio room. I need to take the positives out of it, as much as I can.”

Hutchinson lasted 32 minutes against the Millers before being replaced by Alex Pearce.

“I had a little tear in my soleus and because it involves that and the tendon I think it makes it a little bit worse than if it was just a normal calf injury,” he explained.

“I started to feel it a little bit at the start of the game. I had the awareness of it but I didn’t think too much about it, I just tried to crack on with the game. It got gradually worse and as I tried to clear the ball down the line I felt a pop in my leg.

“I knew straight away it was a bad one and that my season was done. I had no choice but to come off.

“I’ll be in the treatment room for the rest of this season and then maybe half of the off-season as well. I’m going to be 100 per cent ready to go when the boys are back to start pre-season. I’ll be as good as new for then – that won’t be an issue. It’s just how much time I get to down tools.”

Hutchinson was an ever-present in the 2017-18 campaign, Millwall’s first back in English football’s second tier. He was also voted their Player of the Year.

The centre-back has played 180 times for the Lions and is one of their top signings in recent times, especially considering he was a pick up on a free after being released by Fulham in 2016.

“I was a little bit hesitant about where my next move was going to be,” he said. “I knew I had to play football, but I wasn’t sure if League One was the right move for me.

“When I first went there I got a few injuries and it didn’t start too well, but looking back it is probably the best decision I have made in my whole football career.

“I’ve enjoyed every single minute and hopefully there are a lot more matches to come.

“I signed a longer contract and have got two years left. I’m happy with how it is going and also looking forward to how it is going to go.

“The play-off final is up there as my biggest highlight, just the promotion and what it all meant. Even now you look back and see where Bradford have gone compared to where we’ve gone – you see the huge difference between winning and losing that game.

“It’s one of the most important games of my career. Any kind of trophy you get is going to be a highlight.”

Millwall can post a third top-10 finish in their four seasons back in the Championship. The fact they have missed out on the play-offs has been down to not netting enough goals – they are the lowest scorers in the top half of the table.

“It’s always a difficult question because if you pride yourself on being solid in defence then it generally means a lot of the attacking players are working hard on that side as well,” said Hutchinson. “Potentially you could be taking a bit of their game away.

“It’s pretty unfair just to blame attacking players because the wingers, midfielders and defenders need to supply them.

“It is a combination of things. I certainly wouldn’t put the blame on any individual.

“At times we could have been a bit brighter with the final pass but our set-plays have been really poor – we haven’t scored anywhere near enough set-play goals. We’ve maybe got two or three that way, normally at Millwall it is at least six, seven or eight – straight away that is probably a good few wins to add on top of that

“Is it that opposition working hard on it? Is it the players attacking the ball? Is it the delivery? We’re not really sure in terms of pinpointing it. All we know is that it hasn’t really been good enough.

“It is something we’ll look at next season and hopefully get more of a return on set-plays. But on the other side of things, we’ve been pretty solid defending them and that is a collective thing that people deserve credit for.”