Stewart not worried by injury

7:20am Tuesday 12th February 2008

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GARETH Stewart says he is determined to win the pain game and play his part in helping to keep Cherries in League One.

Stewart has been bravely battling on despite breaking a finger during Cherries' 4-1 drubbing by Southend last month.

He fractured the index finger on his left hand in the lead up to the Shrimpers' second goal before his misery was compounded when he was later forced off due to a hamstring injury.

Although rookie Ryan Pryce proved an able deputy during wins over Luton and Port Vale, Stewart was rushed back to add his experience to the heat of Cherries' relegation battle.

And with Neil Moss sidelined until mid-April by a broken wrist, the goalkeeping duties are likely to remain in the capable hands of Stewart until the end of the season.

Stewart told the Daily Echo: "The finger has been an ongoing problem but I've been told that as long as I can move it, there's not a lot they can do about it.

"I can do the things I need to and can just about bend it so I'm going to have to put up with it and that's what I've been doing. It's more important to try to do well and win games than it is for me to worry about broken fingers and tight hamstrings.

"It's not been too much of a problem. There are certain things you can't do in training but the adrenaline pumps through you in games and helps you get through.

"I would never ask to come out of the firing line. That would only happen if the manager were to decide that he didn't want me to play any more."

Stewart is hoping Cherries can make further inroads into wiping out their 10-point deduction when they face League One high-fliers Doncaster Rovers at Dean Court tonight (7.45pm).

"We can certainly take a lot of confidence into the game," said Stewart, who made the majority of his 175 appearances for the club under Doncaster's former Cherries boss Sean O'Driscoll.

"We know what they are going to be about because Sean will have them playing and passing the ball around. Both teams like to play football and we like to get it down and pass it as well.

"It will be an intense atmosphere and we know we need the points to take another massive step towards where we want to be at the end of the season. We're not looking at the league table in too much detail because we know we just need to keep winning."

Cherries: (from) Stewart, Cooper, Gowling, Perrett, Cummings, Bradbury, Bartley, Hollands, Gradel, Kuffour, Vokes, Pitman, Tessem, Partington, Pearce, Pryce.

Doncaster: (from) Sullivan, O'Connor, S Roberts, Mills, G Roberts, Green, Stock, Wellens, Coppinger, Price, McCammon, McDaid, Guy, Heffernan, Woods, Wilson.