Curran: I’ll be a better player in the future

May 8 2009 by Nick Hilton, Liverpool Daily Post

CRAIG CURRAN is convinced his season of frustration with Tranmere can help to make him a better player in the future.

The 19-year-old striker spent most of Rovers’ League One campaign battling back from stomach injuries and endured more time in hospitals than playing football over the last six months.

But Curran overcame a succession of setbacks to return to first-team action over the final weeks of the League One campaign.

And he signed off with a goal in the 1-1 draw at Scunthorpe that saw Tranmere narrowly miss out on the play-offs.

“Just to be playing again was good for me, “ Curran said. “To get into the play-offs would have been a dream end to my season and I think we were desperately unlucky not to do it.”

Curran had high hopes for his personal ambitions when Tranmere kicked off in August.

The Liverpool-born youngster, who burst onto the first-team scene with a flurry of goals two years ago, felt he was ready to push for a regular place in the front line.

The season started well. He said: “I was playing and scoring early on. Then the injuries hit me and I was out for six months.”

The agony was prolonged by a succession of setbacks. Curran explained: “First I was hoping to be playing again by Christmas, then there was another problem and it was February, then another.

“Now I’ve finally overcome it and I’m feeling good.”

Curran believes the ordeal of last six months can help to make him stronger.

He said: “Everything that happened to me is part of learning process.

“It’s so hard to keep your head when you are out of the game and watching from the sidelines. I’m not the best spectator in the world, as the other lads will tell you. But I think this will make me a stronger person and hopefully a better player.

“I’m still only 19. I have a lot of years ahead of me and it’s made me want to work harder than ever to be successful.”

Meanwhile, Tranmere will have to start next season with two of their most experienced players – Ian Goodison and Gareth Edds – missing through suspension.

Goodison must complete the four-match ban he received for his sending-off for a dangerous tackle in the home game against Hereford United on April 13. The Jamaican centre-back served the first three of those games during the final fortnight of Rovers’ League One campaign.

The versatile Edds expects to kick-off 2009-10 with a one-match ban for his dismissal for a second bookable offence in the 1-1 draw at Scunthorpe last Saturday.

SOME of the greatest players in Tranmere’s history will pull on the white shirts again this weekend for a special charity match to mark the launch of a new foundation.

The likes of Eric Nixon, Shaun Garnett, John Achterberg, Alan Morgan, Kenny Irons and Eddie Bishop are expected to feature when a Tranmere Legends team take on FC Rearguard – the Tranmere Rovers fans’ team – at Cammell Laird FC on Sunday, May 10 (kick-off 12pm).

The day has been organised to raise funds for St John’s Hospice, Wirral, and Claire House.

With all proceeds going to the charities, the game will also mark the launch of the Tranmere Rovers Former Players’ Foundation. The Foundation, which is the brainchild of former goalkeeper Eric Nixon, is being set up to provide financial and medical assistance and other support to former players who represented the club with distinction.

Money raised by the Foundation will go towards supporting former players in a variety of ways.

Nixon, who made more than 400 appearances in 13 years at the club, said: “There are many players who have given so much to the club, and this is about supporting them in their retirement.”