West Ham midfielder Jack Collison wants to help out the team’s relegation battle

Forgotten West Ham midfielder Jack Collison says he is ready to play a part in the Hammers crucial run-in despite being out of the game for 14 months.

The 22-year-old Wales international has made three reserve appearances, but despite a lack of time on the pitch, he is convinced that he is ready to step back up.

“I feel really good,” he said. “I’ve only played a couple of reserve games, but I’ve been training for a long while now with the team and it would be nice before the end of the season to have an opportunity to help the team out.”

The youngsters knee has been the problem over the last couple of years after he broke down at Wigan in 2009, before suffering a recurrence of the injury while on international duty.

But he says that is all behind him now.

“The knee has been good,” he insisted. “To be fair the medical team have been brilliant for me. It’s been a real team effort. There have been four of five of them working really hard with me round the clock.

“I feel good and I’m ready and raring to go.”

Collison has clearly had enough of watching his team-mates from the sidelines, something he has found very difficult.

“I know what it’s like to be a fan now. I’ve lost even more hair and I was struggling with that before,” he smiled.

“Obviously it has been frustrating at times. With the team we’ve got we have played some really nice stuff at times and the results just don’t seem to have come.

“It is up to us now, the past doesn’t really matter, what matters now is the next five games and they are massive.

“Every one is going to be like a cup final, the boys are really up for it, the manager is really up for it, so let’s just have a real go.”