Blair Henderson: I know I can't walk straight back into Edinburgh City team

Last season's top scorer will bide his time after injury
Edinburgh City's Blair Henderson, pictured scoring in the Scottish Cup against Inverness last season, is now fully fit after a thigh injury. Pic: SNSEdinburgh City's Blair Henderson, pictured scoring in the Scottish Cup against Inverness last season, is now fully fit after a thigh injury. Pic: SNS
Edinburgh City's Blair Henderson, pictured scoring in the Scottish Cup against Inverness last season, is now fully fit after a thigh injury. Pic: SNS

Blair Henderson is eager to win back his starting place at Edinburgh City – but the prolific hitman knows he can’t expect to walk straight back into the team.

The 25-year-old striker has endured an injury-disrupted start to the campaign, but has come off the bench in each of his team’s last two matches after spending two months on the sidelines with a thigh issue sustained in August.

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However, despite netting a whopping 38 goals last term, Henderson has had to bide his time to win back his place due to the fact his team-mates have been flourishing in his absence.

“It’s been frustrating, but I’m finally feeling like I’m back,” said Henderson. “I’m feeling good. I’ve been training the last four or five weeks, but the boys have been doing well so it’s been difficult for me to get back in the team.

“It’s a long season and we’re going to go through a tough period over the next few months. Hopefully I can break back into the team sooner rather than later, but I’ll wait my turn.

“If I was in a winning team, I wouldn’t want to be taken out. I’m on the other side of it just now and it’s frustrating but everyone picks up injuries, so when it happens and the team are doing well, you just need to take your time and work your way back in.”

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Henderson is disappointed that he has been unable to build on the momentum he generated last season. “Coming off a season like I had last year, I wanted to do the same again, or if not do even better, but it’s going to be difficult for me to do that now,” he said. “I’m obviously not going to score as many goals as last year because I’ve missed a lot of games but hopefully from now until the end of the season I can get a goal-scoring run again.”

Henderson took his tally for this season to four when he netted a last-minute penalty to defeat Albion Rovers at Ainslie Park. “It was great to get my goal last weekend,” he said. “It was a big goal for the club as well because it keeps us in the hunt, so it was a great feeling.”

The striker will hope to play a part against his former club Annan Athletic at Ainslie Park on Saturday (kick-off 3pm) as City bid to get through to the fourth round of the Scottish Cup and sent up a potential crack at one of Scottish football’s big guns.

“This is the chance we all want in the Scottish Cup,” said Henderson. “Getting big teams from the Scottish Premiership is ultimately what we all want, so hopefully we can get through. It’ll be a tough game because Annan are a good side. They are always in the play-off places, and they’ve got a good manager who I know well (Peter Murphy). They’ll be up for it and no doubt they’ll give us a good game.”