Elokobi laps up return to Molineux pitch

May 4 2009 by Lisa Smith, Birmingham Mail

GEORGE Elokobi admitted that being involved in the final match of the campaign after almost a season out through injury had been “incredible” and just as emotional as when he made his Wolves debut.

The left-back suffered what he thought was a career-ending injury after tearing a cruciate ligament in his knee last August in the fourth match of the season at Ipswich.

But he has worked tirelessly in his rehabilitation and revealed he thought that might be why manager Mick McCarthy allowed him to play the last seven minutes of the game as he lapped up the adulation of the Molineux faithful.

Elokobi said: “That was incredible. It felt like my Wolves debut all over again and it was absolutely fantastic. It was a special day for everyone but particularly for me.

“I am just so grateful to everyone at the club – the manager, my team-mates, the physios and the medical department – and so proud of how far we have come as a club.”

Elokobi said the manager had told him only 45 minutes before the game that he was on the bench for the first time since his operation eight months ago. “He told me in the dressing room but even then I didn’t know I was going to come on – only that I was in the squad. That was the icing on the cake and now I have a Championship medal too. I won’t deny it was hard out there playing for the first time and I was blowing after about six or seven minutes but it was fantastic!”