GARY Rowett has said that he’s pacing Mason Bennett’s return to competitive action after the forward recovered from his recent hamstring injury.
Bennett has struggled with a number of injury issues in recent years, most recently tearing his hamstring in a 3-2 win against Coventry City in mid-August. He returned to the squad in early October and started his first game against Watford last week.
Despite providing an assist for Tom Bradshaw’s second goal against the Hornets, he was dropped to the bench for Saturday’s game against West Brom, with the 26-year-old coming on to play the final seven minutes instead.
Rowett claimed that this was in order to prevent him from picking up another injury so soon after his return in order to keep him fit for the rest of the campaign.
“I said that to him after the Watford game,” he told NewsAtDen.
“I know Benno really well. Obviously I’ve worked with him for a long time now and I think sometimes we have to accept that he’s such a powerful, explosive athlete.
“I think him and Vogi [Voglsammer] have some similarities where it’s hard for them to play at that level of explosive athleticism for 90 minutes. I think sometimes you have to accept that every now and then you’re going to get a 60 or a 30 out of them. I know players don’t want to do that but I think some athletes are like that.
“Benno, after Watford, I just felt having not played much that it would’ve been very easy for me to say ‘go on, go again’, but he looked tired on the Thursday. It looked like it would be hard for him to go with that same zip about him again.
“I think the sensible thing was to hold him back. Mason being available will be a huge thing for us this season, he’ll have a huge impact, but that’s no good if he’s not available. We need to work out the best way to do that and holding him occasionally is just sensible.”
Photo: Millwall FC