Davenport delight at being back for the Hammers

8:43am Wednesday 20th August 2008

EIGHT MONTHS is a long time in football - just ask West Ham's Calum Davenport.

The defender was facing the Upton Park scrapheap not so long ago. Out in the cold and shipped out on loan to Watford in January, he suffered a horrific broken neck in his debut with the Championship outfit.

The injury not only scuppered his chances of sealing a permanent move to Vicarage Road, it also threatened his career and the prospect of walking again.

Yet, in an amazing turnaround in fortunes, the 25-year-old is fighting fit and was back on the pitch for the Irons in the 2-1 win over Wigan on Saturday. It was his first competitive outing for the club since suffering a calf injury in March 2006.

It was an assured one at that, although Davenport was just delighted to be pulling on the claret and blue shirt in a Premier League fixture again.

“It’s a great feeling,” he said. “I’ve worked really extremely hard over the last four of five months since my injury.

“In football you never know with injuries and stuff, but if you can get yourself in the right place physically and mentally then you get your chance. I was ready to play."

He added: "I broke a vertebra in my neck. But that is not really the problem, it is the actual swelling around your nerve endings which is the dangerous thing.

“It was career threatening. It was touch and go between being as I am now fit and playing, or being in a wheelchair, so obviously it was pretty bad.

“But I’ve got good people around me here, who have helped me come back and I am just buzzing.”

Ironically, it is a set of injuries to a host of other centre halves at the club that Davenport has been gifted a second chance at all.

Danny Gabbidon, James Collins, Anton Ferdinand, James Tomkins and Jon Spector - all of whom were ahead of the former Spurs man at the start of pre-season - are all sidelined.

Now Davenport is desperate to grasp his opportunity with both hands, although he is under no illusions that the hard work has to continue if he is to keep ahead of the queue.

“I’m not stupid - there was plenty of people in front of me,” he said.

“But there have been injuries and I have worked extremely hard and sometimes if you keep working like that your chance comes. Thankfully mine did.

“I’ve got full belief in my ability, but sometimes you can get overlooked and you can look a million miles away.

“That was the case for me last year. But I’ve got off to a good start and hopefully long may that continue here at West Ham.”

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