Ayunga looking forward to his return from injury

Kenyan forward Jonah Ayunga is looking forward to going back to team training after edging closer to his return for St. Mirren from injury.

He picked an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury during the 1-0 win over Motherwell in February and underwent surgery the same month but has since returned to rehabilitation training on the green.

Despite spending the better part of the year in the team's sick-bay, Ayunga, who has since stepped up his rehabilitation, is happy with his progress as he continues to work with an aim of returning in the near future.

"I feel good. I've been upping it quite a lot on the grass and doing a lot more dynamic stuff like change of direction, passing, getting used to moving, and kicking the ball again so it's been a good couple of weeks. I think I'm just over six months since the surgery so to be where I am is probably ahead of where I thought I was going to be and just getting these last few bits ticked off and then I can be back in training.

I trust Gerry and everything he gives me to do so when he gives me something to do I give it 100% and see how I react to it. Watching the boys doing well, knowing that if I was out on the pitch that I could be adding something else as well, I can't wait to be back. The surgeon was happy with everything so we can just crack on with things," Ayunga said as quoted on the club's website.

Mirren's Head of Physiotherapy Gerry Docherty is so far impressed with the Kenyan's progress, terming it the ACL rehabilitation he has done this far.

According to Gerry, Ayunga still has about six weeks to continue with his rehabilitation but the physio remains positive that they can get him ready for a return in early October.

"Jonah ruptured his ACL in January and had an operation in early March. He's progressed through the stages of rehabilitation from his stress work to range of movement and balance work. He's done all that but it's ongoing during all the phases. He's now approaching the late stages of his rehab. He's been running, he's been out on the pitch doing some ball work and joined in a couple of the warm ups with the lads.

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"We're now just integrating more agility drills, change of direction, getting faster at doing these and we'll eventually get him involved with other players around him which is the 'chaos' and is more reactive. He's still around six weeks away, but we are optimistic we can make that transition over the next month or so and he'll be close to hopefully joining in sometime in early October," Gerry said.

A timely return for Ayunga will not only be beneficial for Mirren, but also for the National team Harambee Stars, especially with the FIFA World Cup qualifiers set to kick off.

Stars' coach Engin Firat earlier revealed that he had made contact with the forward about a possible call up but the injury came on the way.