Preston North End

The Lilywhites’ No.32 picked up a knee injury against Peterborough United back in March which has kept him out since.

And despite the frustration, the former Barnsley man is ready for a return to full training.

“The knee is good; I’m training today for the first time so I am a very happy boy,” said Scott.

“I’m glad to be back, I have been out way too long and it has dragged itself out too much but I’m glad to be back now.

“It’s so frustrating that I have been in here training by myself and all the lads have been out on the training pitch, Matt Jackson [physio] must be sick of me pestering him!

“It’s hard work and it is something that all footballers hate, nobody enjoys it and hopefully I am over it now.

“To be honest with you, the injury was really something about nothing.

“I just jarred my knee after I made a pass, my heel got stuck on the turf and I had some bone bruising behind my kneecap and in between the joints.

“I have been a bit immobile because of it and I couldn’t do anything beyond a certain point in terms of a certain range of movement.

“The rehab since has been just straight line running and letting it heal, because we couldn’t do any twisting or turning as that is when the pain was coming and making it worse, so until that went, we couldn’t really step it up.

“It was just a case of doing nothing for a good couple of weeks, resting it and since then we have kicked on – Jacko has been putting me through my paces on the altitude bike and with straight line running, I’m sick of pitch runs now, although I’m an expert at them!

“It has been hard but it is good.

“It has been frustrating for me and I think it has been frustrating for Jacko as well because I have been looking to him for answers and he can only say to me that it is what it is, we couldn’t do anything about it and we could only do things like strength work around it.

“It has been really frustrating for me and for Jacko as well, but it is on the mend now and I am training today and hopefully my knee will get through it fine.”

Since making his North End debut against Wolverhampton Wanderers from the bench, Wiseman had become an integral part of Simon Grayson’s squad until his injury, but now he has had time to reflect on his whirlwind start at Deepdale, he is even happier than before to have signed for the Club.

“If anything, having a few weeks out has enhanced my views of the Club,” added Wiseman.

“Seeing how well I have been treated since I came out of the team, nothing has changed; I have not been treated any worse for not being part of the team or being away from the lads.

“It has been absolutely fantastic and then to see the lads keep doing it on the pitch has been brilliant – but harder for me to take as well because they are doing well and I want to be a part of that team doing well, but at the end of the day, the most important thing is that the team is doing well and we go into the Play-Offs with as much confidence as we can and it looks like we are going to.”

With Wiseman hoping to return to first team action sooner rather than later, the battle for starting slots come the first leg of the Play-Off semi-final is on.

And the Gibraltan insists that whoever has those XI shirts will have the full backing of their team-mates.

He continued: “Of course it is going to be difficult to get back into the team but it is not about that just now, it is about us getting promoted at the minute.

“So whoever is playing, the six or seven people sitting on the bench will be wanting the ones starting to do well and I’ll be doing that and backing everybody, whoever is playing, whether I’m playing or not, it is just about getting promoted.”

Wiseman, like many of his team-mates, has experience of previous Play-Off battles, his coming with Rochdale and Darlington.

And he believes that form is paramount for a successful promotion push and he is happy to pass on his previous experiences to others if required.

“I don’t think the Play-Offs are a lottery at all,” stated Wiseman.

“If you look at the form over the years, there is never a real surprise package.

“If you go into them with no sort of form, then you are going to be struggling, same throughout the season, you don’t want to be hitting any big games on a bad run of form.

“As it is, in the last few weeks the lads have been banging in the goals and the confidence is high.

“We are defending well, we are scoring well, we are attacking well, everything is getting there with a few little tweaks and it has been absolutely fantastic.

“Taking that into the Play-Offs can only be a positive and it will be something teams around us will be thinking that we are the team to look out for.

“The Play-Off experience is absolutely fantastic, for the fans it is a party atmosphere, it’s a nervous atmosphere, it is everything, it has its ups and downs, it is the best place to be.

“It is the best way to go up – or so I have been told, I have never gone up through the Play-Offs just automatically, but the Play-Offs I have been involved in have been absolutely fantastic with Darlington and Rochdale. 

“It is a great experience and hopefully I can help the lads get through them using the experience I have.”