Buzsaky hopeful of facing Saints as international RÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s prepare for action
Thursday, 4th Sep 2008 11:00

Midfielder Akos Buzsaky says he’s in a race against time to face Southampton as he continues to recover from surgery. Meanwhile three QPR players will be in action for their countries this week.

Buzsaky injured his ankle playing for Hungary in March and despite several attempted comebacks in April and May finally succumbed to surgery over the summer. He returned to full training last week and featured for 45 minutes in the reserves’ 1-1 draw against Charlton on Tuesday.

That outing had led to hopes that the Magical Magyar could return to the first team a week on Sunday when the R’s entertain Southampton live on Sky. Buzsaky has told QPR World and the Kilburn Times that the game may come just too soon for him although he is hoping to be on the bench.

Buzsaky said: “I could be match fit by then. We have a lot of good players now and if I were on the bench against Southampton I'd be delighted. It feels great to be back. It's two weeks since I started full training and by the Southampton game it will be four weeks, so I am getting there. My ankle feels right and now it's up to me to get my fitness back and play some first-team football.

"It was an awkward injury. It was a split in the ligament that settled down but wasn't 100 per cent, so it needed an operation. But that's in the past now and I want to look forward."

Hogan Ephraim scored in the Charlton game and is keen to get back in the first team himself after a summer disrupted by shin splints.

Ephraim said: “I'm glad to be playing again. The shin feels fine and now I'm looking to try and get into the team. The manager doesn't want to rush me but I feel I'm ready. I've got a couple of reserve games behind me and feel I've got my fitness up to the same level as the rest of the lads. The football we've been playing is great to watch and it looks enjoyable to play in. I want to be involved and the sooner I can do that the better."

It’s a weekend off for QPR this week of course, just as we were really getting into the swing of things, but three of our players will be in international action during the next seven days. Damien Delaney is once again in the Republic of Ireland squad as they prepare to face Georgia (in Germany) and Montenegro in World Cup qualifiers – Delaney has a good chance of being selected with Kevin Kilbane fracturing his cheekbone during Wigan’s hilarious 5-0 win at Hull City last week.

Kaspars Gorkss will hope to put his rocky start to life at QPR behind him when he lines up for Latvia against Moldova and Greece while Daniel Parejo is in the Spanish Under 21 team for their matches with Kazakhstan (is nice) and Russia.

Player coach Gareth Ainsworth said: “It's a sign of how strong our squad is now that we have three players going off on international duty this weekend. The worry is that they'll come back injured but that's the price you pay for having top-class players at the club.”