Relief rains on Eduardo’s hatchet man

By Randy Osae

Martin Taylor was arguably the most elated man in England after Monday night.

The Birmingham defender has been regarded as one filthy villain after his tackle in February last year put sword between the career of Eduardo da Silva.

Whether intentional or not, Taylor’s reputation had been tarnished by that incident, and lamentations have been on his end since. Even so that Arsene Wenger had suggested a permanent ban from football for the defender.

Initially, Eduardo claimed he had not received any consolations nor apologies from his hatchet man after an outstanding return to business against Cardiff earlier this week.

But Martin Taylor has now publicly expressed warm feelings over Edurardo’s remarkable show of resilience to recover his career.

“It’s definitely a relief that he is back playing,” Taylor told the Birmingham Mail. “I know in my heart of hearts that it was an accident. A horrible accident.

“So I wanted to see him playing again. You can never be sure. I was hopeful because of the updates I received from Arsenal.

“I kept my fingers crossed when he was playing in the reserves, but there is nothing like that first proper game. To recover both mentally and physically – to get through that training and to get back to that standard – he has done really, really well.”