Soccer: Paston struggles for positives

Mark Paston is carried off the field. Photo / Getty

New Zealand soccer goalkeeper Mark Paston will use his computer science degree to get some work experience at an IT firm during his injury layoff.

While that may sound ominous for followers of the code, the big Wellington Phoenix and All Whites custodian insists he is not done with his football career just yet.

A specialist at Wellington Hospital yesterday confirmed what Paston had suspected by revealing he would be sidelined for up to six months due to what is technically called a "depressed fracture of the tibial plateau".

In lay terms, the top of the tibea just below the knee on his right leg has been pushed down and needs to be nudged back up, which will happen when he undergoes surgery tomorrow.

From there it will be about six weeks on crutches, followed by months of cycling, jogging and general rehabilitation.

He should be ready to take the field again in May, but said he might opt to take a bit longer.

Paston will have the luxury of doing so given it will be the A-League off-season and there is nothing - for example, a World Cup - he needs to speed up the process for.

Paston knows all this not because the surgeon told him so, but because he has been there and done it all before, after suffering the same injury to his other lower leg at the same time of the year.

Twelve months ago, almost to the day, Phoenix teammate Andrew Durante did the damage in a training ground accident; last Saturday it was Gold Coast United striker Bruce Djite in another accident. Only this time the pain was much worse.

"Yeah, it's exactly the same, I've done a little bit more damage to the medial ligament on the side but the surgeon tells me it's otherwise a carbon copy," Paston said.

"It's easier to rehab knowing what's involved but it doesn't help my frustration levels.

"I'm told to do it once is unusual, to do it twice is just weird. There's not too much I can do about it, it's just a matter of getting on with life."

Paston, who turned 34 on Monday, is struggling to see the positives at the moment - he is not a good football watcher and hates to stay still for long.

But he will get to spend more time with his one-year-old son Jack and there is the opportunity to put his degree to use with some work experience.

After all there is, he acknowledges, life after football.

But, having signed with the Phoenix until the end of the 2010-11 season, he intends to at least see out that contract.

"I made a decision to sign for certain reasons and nothing has changed in that regard," he said.

"Obviously this injury is a setback for this season but I'll do the rehab and get myself ready for next season."

Paston can reflect on a wonderful 2010.

Alongside captain Ryan Nelsen, he was the standout player for New Zealand at the World Cup and his efforts have been rewarded with his nomination for sportsman of the year at the annual Halberg awards in February.

But with his Phoenix season over, right now Paston is finding it hard to think of anything else.

- NZPA