Facial injuries fail to dent Merstham striker's pro dream

BILLY Marshall has had several injuries in his fledgling career.

So a broken nose and cheekbone was never likely to take away his determination to pursue his dream of turning professional one day.

The 21-year-old striker suffered the nasty injury in Merstham's FA Cup exit at the end of August.

Last Saturday the football coach returned to the first team, jumping for challenges and headers as if he had never been away.

Now he wants a run of games to re-establish himself, as well as to help Merstham push for a promotion he believes is within their grasp in their second season in Ryman Division One South.

"My face was out here" he says, lifting his hand half a foot from his face as he recalls the aftermath of an opponent "coming into the side of me" back in that game.

He suffered a hairline fracture of his left cheek, a broken nose and substantial bruising under which it was initially feared he had also broken his jaw.

Marshall had reconstructive surgery and a metal plate fitted at the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, which was set up to help soldiers who had suffered serious facial injuries in war.

"There was a woman there who'd had her face bitten off by a dog," he said. "They had pictures of her before and after her operation and they'd done an amazing job."

When he returned to action he was not even wearing a protective mask, as many sports people do. When I went to the hospital they said that was a load of rubbish," Marshall said. "The masks don't do anything. It's just to tell opponents you've got an injury."

Wary of being targeted – and the permanent damage that could occur from a repeat injury – he decided against the mask "in case I get someone who doesn't really care" playing against him.

Training with Merstham was fine, because he could trust his team-mates but, naturally, there was some hesitation when he returned in the reserves a week ago, but not for long.

"When they'd put it all back together, there was no way I wasn't going to play again," Marshall said. "But it was a case of 'what's my mental state going to be?'" It was quickly answered. "The first header I went up for I was fine. At the start of a game I might have it at the back of my mind, but once I get going I don't think about it."

Marshall had to have several weeks off work at the Chessington-based football academy Concept for Football, a business in which he is a partner.

"I have to be able to demonstrate tackling," he explained of passing on his skills to youngsters who, like him, hope to sign professional terms.

Released at various stages by Fulham and Tottenham during his teens, Marshall was at Woking when spotted by Bristol City scouts.

"I did my knee and was out for 10 months and they released me," he said of how his time ended at Ashton Gate.

Trials at other clubs also floundered on that injury. "I couldn't have trained every day," he said. The scar tissue took two years to heel properly, while he was at Leatherhead. "I need to play game after game and at Tooting last year was the first time I'd played 15 games on the trot."

Now he hopes to be a regular to keep Merstham at the top of the division.

Watching from the sidelines, he has concluded: "The team has done very well, Graeme Banyard has done ever so well. I truly believe we will be pushing for that place to go up."

Speaking after the 6-1 defeat to Tonbridge Angels, he added: "It's a team thing. Today I think we got on each others' backs. They were a good team but I don't think they were anything we couldn't have handled if we had done what we can do. We just didn't play our normal game.

"There will be a lot of teams in the hunt for promotion. The play-offs is a realistic target and we might even nick that first spot."