West Ham defender Winston Reid steps up injury recovery with appearance for U23s

On the comeback trail: Winston Reid in action for West Ham's U23s against Wolfsburg

West Ham United FC via Getty Ima

Giuseppe Muro31 October 2019

West Ham defender Winston Reid made a significant step in his recovery from a serious knee injury by playing for their Under-23s on Wednesday night.

Reid has not played a competitive match since March 2018 and is bidding to resurrect his career after 18 months out.

The 31-year-old came through 64 minutes unscathed as West Ham lost 3-2 to Wolfsburg ‘B’ at their Rush Green training ground.

West Ham will now look to integrate Reid back into first-team training, but boss Manuel Pellegrini will be cautious with the New Zealand international, who is in his 10th season at the Hammers and scored the last goal at Upton Park.

Reid has been sidelined since he suffered a freak injury against Swansea when he was knocked unconscious and fell to the ground awkwardly twisting his knee.

He returned to training last summer, but broke down and had to have surgery, which ruled him out of the whole of last season.

Reid featured three times for West Ham in pre-season but the club have been careful with him since then.