Promise Omochere has admitted that his Bristol Rovers tenure so far has been overshadowed by frustrating knocks and niggles but hopes any minor setbacks are now a thing of the past after scoring his first goal in nearly four months against Wrexham on Saturday.
The 24-year-old had missed almost two months of action with one substitute appearance in the mix that, on reflection, was too premature, after picking up two separate injuries.
An ankle issue at Reading in late October saw Omochere miss three matches before making a brief return against Crawley Town. However, the striker didn’t look right before picking up an entirely separate issue when breaking his hand.
The Irishman made a brief return in the defeat against Birmingham City, which proved to be Matt Taylor’s final game, after missing a total of seven matches. He was then introduced at half-time against Wrexham with Rovers 1-0 down and struggling for any attacking impetus and made a clear difference before popping up at the back post to head in a late equaliser.
Including the Wrexham draw, the Gas will end up playing five league games within 15 days, making the timing of Omochere’s goal particularly encouraging.
Reflecting on his recent injury woes, Omochere explained to Bristol Live: “Yeah it was obviously really frustrating for me because I want to be available and want to be out there as much as possible.
“When I signed here, I said to myself that I don’t want to pick up many knocks, many injuries. I want to be available every game so it was obviously disappointing to get that contact injury at Reading. I did my AITFL (anterior inferior tibiofibular ligament) in my ankle so it was kind of frustrating.
“I did come back sooner than probably I should have and it was evident when I played that I wasn’t right. So we kind of reset as a medical department and gave myself a bit more time to be out there and really have a good account of myself, not just being out there for the sake of being out there because I’m not a player that can just be out there and float around. I do get stuck in. I do put my body about.
“Then coming back and breaking a carpal in my hand as I was trying to get back. So yeah, it’s been frustrating but hopefully now that’s all behind me and I can kind of just kick on now and play as many games as I can and score as many goals at the end of the season.
“I’ve had problems with my rib as well at a certain time in the season so yeah it’s been frustrating playing through a bit of knocks and niggles,” he added. “Hopefully now that’s the end of everything and I kind of play like I did today. More free and without any kind of worries so on and so forth and I can really give a good account of myself.
“Obviously it wasn’t nice to miss as many games as I have but yeah, there’s a lot of games coming up. I think four in the next two weeks so definitely [want to] be available for them and be out there as much as I can and obviously help the team any way I can.”
It’s not been a straightforward start to life at the Gas for Omochere. The striker came in with huge expectations on his shoulders as the club’s record signing for a fee reportedly in the region of £500,000.
A brace against Cambridge United in his fourth League One match as a Rovers player, having scored a few in pre-season too, disintegrated any early pressure that a striker has at a new club.
However, the Irishman has had to wait significantly longer than hoped for his third goal in blue-and-white quarters with injury issues prolonging that wait to put an end to the goal drought.
Using his physicality is a big part of the front man’s game while he’s linked up with teammates impressively in certain matches, picking up two assists against Charlton Athletic and another at Huddersfield Town.
Ultimately though, Omochere knows that, as a striker, goals is what he will be judged on, hence the relief when he thumped his header into the back of the net.
“I think it was kind of huge for me to get that in,” Omochere admitted. “You hear the noise outside so on and so forth. Obviously, we haven’t been creating as much chances as we would want and ultimately we won’t score as many goals as we would want.
“But yeah, we are working. We are definitely working. We all want to obviously improve that and hopefully we can kick on from here. Hopefully the crowd can stick by us and continue to lift us and then I’m sure we do have a lot of good players in the squad so I do know we’ll turn it around and we can definitely get more points.”
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Although, in the background, Rovers are working towards finding a new manager a week on from the announcement that they had sacked Matt Taylor, there were plenty of positives to take from the second half of Dave Horseman’s first game in interim charge.
One of the stand outs was the pleasing connectivity between Omochere and Chris Martin. Gasheads have been crying out to see the two strikers play alongside each other with the only time where the pair had started alongside each other being the 2-0 defeat at Stockport County in August.
Admittedly, Martin picked up a fibula injury that kept him out for two months in that game with the 36-year-old’s return coming in the game after Omochere suffered his ankle problem.
The pair linked up nicely and anticipated each other’s movement while proving to be a major handful physically for the Wrexham defence. Now, supporters are calling for the duo to start alongside each other at Exeter on Boxing Day, a prospect Omochere is excited about.
“I don’t think me and Chris have played together as a two up top this season,” the Irishman reflected. “I think the one game we did was Stockport early in the season. I think he’s been injured. When he’s came back, I’ve got injured.
“It’s really good to obviously play alongside Chris. Obviously, there’s a lot I can learn off him and yeah, he’s obviously had a really good career. Hopefully we’ll have many more opportunities to play on top together.
“Us as a two, we kind of know each other’s strengths so we just try and play off each other and compliment each other as much as we can.”