Manchester United defender Phil Jones admitted that he has had a difficult time recently, but said that he is back on track.
The injury-hit England defender finally played a full 90 minutes, as an overage player for the club's Under-21s team, on Monday night. Jones was part of a United defence which comfortably kept out Middlesbrough Under 21s on the way to a 1-0 victory, with Paddy McNair scoring the winning goal.
It was an improvement for Jones after the previous week, when he had struggled against Chelsea Under-21s and lasted 75 minutes before being substituted in a 1-1 draw. The next step for him is returning to the first-team squad, having not played for them since sustaining his ankle injury in the 2-1 win against Swansea City on Jan. 2.
Jones told MUTV: "Last week, I played against Chelsea and that was difficult, coming back for my first game in a while.
"It's always difficult, fitness-wise, and -- with sharpness -- you're always way off it. But it was nice to finish 90 minutes [against Middlesbrough] and I'm obviously looking forward to the coming games."
When asked if Monday night's performance could set him up for a strong end to the season, Jones replied: "Yes, that's the idea. I've still got a long way to go with fitness and getting the sharpness back, but this was a good step in the right direction.
"They [Middlesbrough] made it hard for us. They dug in really well. They put 11 men behind the ball for 90 minutes. I don't think they caused us many problems but it's always difficult to break them down and we managed to do that eventually. Thankfully Paddy scored."
Wayne Rooney also made his return to action in the Under-21s match on Monday, having spent more than two months out beforehand with a knee injury.
Jones said: "It was nice to see Wazza out there, talented player that he is. He's getting back to fitness and hopefully he won't be far away either."