May 4 2007

Stuart Green

Crystal Palace ace Stuart Green hopes to make his comeback from injury against Colchester on Sunday to end his season on a high.

The midfielder, 25, has been sidelined with a dislocated shouler since January when the Eagles played Sunderland.

But he hopes to make a bench appearance for the trip to Layer Road in Palace's final match of the campaign.

"There’s a good chance I’ll be back in the squad for Sunday," he said. "I had a chat with the manager about it, and he’s naturally a bit cautious about playing me because of the extent of the injury.

"He doesn’t want any problems for next season, which I can understand. But I’m very keen to play. I wanted to play against Derby, but the specialist advised against it."

Green had an operation on his troublesome shoulder and believes it has made a full recovery.

He added: "It was the second time I’d dislocated my shoulder, so I needed the operation.

"The tear hadn’t repaired probably, so I always felt it would happen again. As it turned out lightning struck twice, because I hurt it again at the same ground.

"The surgeon put some screws in to tighten everything up, which will now stay in the shoulder.

"I’m surprised how good it feels. There’ll be times when I suffer setbacks, but he’s reassured me it’s fine. I’m not exactly a tough-tackling, hard midfielder, so hopefully I should be safe on that score."