Leeds United forward Patrick Bamford marked his return to action by climbing off the bench to score his first goal in 18 months in Friday's 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa.
The 29-year-old reached 100 career league goals in the process, after spending the last 18 months plagued by injury. Bamford has missed seven games during two separate spells on the sidelines this term, and barely featured during the second half of 2021-22.
He underwent an operation in an attempt to solve his injury hoodoo during the World Cup break, which offered him a prime opportunity to get fully fit ahead of the Premier League restart.
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Former Leeds striker Alan Smith knows all too well about suffering with injuries, after sustaining a broken leg and a dislocated ankle, when blocking John Arne Riise's shot in 2006 while playing for Manchester United.
Smith insists that the priority is for Bamford to go through games unscathed after his injury problems, but believes his goal will boost his self-confidence.
"I think with any player getting an injury, coming back and getting another injury, it’s that self-confidence and that doubt that your body is going to hold up more than anything," Smith told NewCasinoUK.
"For Leeds, they’ve been playing well as a team. The game against Villa they played really well, and you don’t wanna harp on about playing well when you lose, but you have to take a bit of perspective.
"You’ve got a lot of young players at the top of the pitch at the end, and they’ve done really well. Sometimes it can be hard in the final third to break teams down, but we look like a team that whilst we’re down there at the bottom of the league, we are playing with enough confidence, the players are playing with confidence and the fans can see it.
"There’s incredible support and they want to see what they’re seeing; the enthusiasm, players taking the ball in difficult situations. Such fine margins between getting three points and losing, and it’s going to be really interesting at the end of the season and which teams will go down."
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