After spending some time out with an injury, Ryan Howley is back fit and fighting for a place in Bristol Rovers' starting side.
The midfielder returned to the team in the Gas' 1-0 victory over Cheltenham Town in the Vertu Trophy, playing for the first time since Rovers' 1-0 win over Grimsby Town in August.
Howley played the entire match against the Robins before being an unused substitute in the Pirates' defeat to Milton Keynes Dons on the weekend.
Signing for the Gas in the summer, moving to the Club from Sky Bet Championship outfit Coventry City following a successful trial, the 21-year-old is feeling good and wants to get as many minutes on the pitch as possible.
“I’m feeling good now," he said. "It was obviously disappointing to get the injury when I did, but luckily it wasn’t too much of a long one.
“You want to be available for every game, really, and any time you get an injury is not ideal. But now that I’m back, obviously I played the Cheltenham game, hopefully I can start to get a few games and build that up in front of the fans.
“I think when I played at the start of the season, we were in a tough bit of form, but I think it’s picked up, and certainly winning the cup game against Cheltenham gets us through. It’s an opportunity to play more games in that cup.”
Rovers' team has strength in depth across the pitch, making it tough competition, especially for players who have been sidelined with an injury to get back in the side. With the Gas currently sitting 14th on the Sky Bet League Two table, competition for a starting spot is fierce.
“There’s great competition in the squad; we’ve got a very good squad," said Howley. “So, I think, whenever you’ve got the chance, you’ve got to take it and if injuries come up and stuff, it can happen to anyone really. You’ve just always got to be ready.”
Howley is versatile and can play across the midfield as well as slip into the defence. The 21-year-old is not concerned about where he plays and is happy to help the team in any way he can when the opportunity arises.
"Obviously, being available to play in any position, if there are injuries or just if you need to cover somewhere, it can definitely be a good thing," he said. “But I don’t think it’s too much of a bad thing if you’ve not got one nailed down position. Any time on the pitch is good, really.”
Howley watched on from the bench as the Pirates fell to a 4-0 defeat to MK Dons on Saturday, with the entire squad desperate to put things right after a good week of training. Tranmere visit The Memorial Stadium winless in their last seven fixtures, with Howley hoping his side can get back to winning ways.
"We came back in on Monday, reviewed the game, and straightaway we’ve been looking towards Tranmere at the weekend and working really hard this week," said Howley. “It’s a chance to put right what went wrong last week and try and get three points on the board.
“There are so many games in this league. If you get on a few little runs, a few runs of wins here and there, you can so easily shoot up and down the table. So, hopefully we’ll just be going up from now.”
