The painstaking road to recovery for the Cardiff City star who is just desperate to catch a breakBy Glen WilliamsTuesday 7th July 2020
The Bluebirds striker announced himself with a match-winning header, but has rarely featured since owing to a succession of injuriesIt was about as good a debut as any player could wish for.
Isaac Vassell, a deadline-day signing from Birmingham City by Neil Warnock, made his Bluebirds bow in the 91st minute of the August Championship clash with Luton Town with the game deadlocked at 1-1.
Four minutes later, Junior Hoilett cut in from the left-hand side and whipped in a trademark, pinpoint cross towards the penalty spot and Vassell seized his moment.
He leapt and headed home, against his former club, and bedlam ensued in Cardiff City Stadium as the fans erupted into hysteria.
Just when it looked as though a diamond had been unearthed, however, 10 months of bona fide injury hell was to follow.
At first Warnock said his quad injury, sustained back in September, would sideline him for only two months. But he has not made a first-team appearance since the Carabao Cup defeat by the Hatters on August 27.
We thought he might be on the road to recovery before the country was put into lockdown, when it emerged he would be making an appearance for Steve Morison's under-23s at the beginning of March.
Just 25 minutes in, though, disaster struck.
Brad Smith, Cardiff's January loan signing, slid through Vassell for what looked to be a one-on-one with the Watford goalkeeper.
But, in sprinting for the ball, he pulled up, feeling the top and side of his leg. He had been sidelined with a torn quad and it looked like flare-up of that very area.
He subsequently pulled his shirt over his face in clear agony and limped towards Morison before Neil Harris came from the stands to greet and console the player, who furiously hit the hurdles at Leckwith's sports park on his way down the tunnel.
Harris put his arm around Vassell's shoulder as they both disappeared down the tunnel.
It was just the latest in a succession of horrendous injuries which have stunted the 26-year-old's career to date - he was out for a year with a torn ACL at Birmingham - and now Harris is determined to get to the bottom of it.
"Isaac, as we know, a quad injury again, very unfortunate," the manager said.
"He's in being tested, so he is in The Vale every day and he is in the gym. He comes out and has a walk around the pitch and sees the players. It's always nice to see him. He's a good lad.
"We know it's a long road with him. But what we really have to do is get to the bottom of why he has had so many injuries.
"That's the key one. It's not just about preparing the injuries he has had in quads, ankles, hamstrings, whatever else he has had.
"It becomes about biomechanics. The working of his body, the balance of his body, his hips and his back and just making sure we can get as much detail on him as possible.
"Sometimes it can be quite simple to fix, you just have to look in the right areas."Cardiff's striker options have certainly diminished while Vassell has been at the club, with both Gary Madine and Omar Bogle having been shipped on to pastures new.
Danny Ward, who scored a scintillating winner in the 1-0 triumph over Bristol City last weekend, sees his contract expire at the end of the campaign and it is as yet unknown whether he will be offered fresh terms.
Should Ward leave, although there are many fans and those at the club hoping that will bot be the case, it will leave only Robert Glatzel, Callum Paterson, Vassell and youth product Mark Harris, who is yet to make a first-team appearance, as the recognised strikers.
Still only 26, Vassell arguably has his best years ahead of him, but he needs game time, of that there is no question.
And any talk of him leaving Cardiff City Stadium seemed to be quashed when Harris revealed the reason the club are working so hard in the background is so that, at some point, Vassell can pay them back on the pitch.
"We are trying to help him so that he can help us in the future," he said.
Bluebirds up and down the country, as well as the player himself, will be praying that is the case, sooner rather than later.
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