Suffering in silence a disaster for keeper

Vedran Janjetovic remembers the moment exactly. Diving to make a save, sensing pain “like a shot” in his shoulder.

Wanderers goalkeeper Vedran Janjetovic played through the pain last season Picture: Jonathan Ng

Vedran Janjetovic remembers the moment exactly. Diving to make a save, sensing pain “like a shot” in his shoulder. Feeling like his body had gone into shock as he tried to control a backpass but ended up giving away a corner.

Fans ridiculed him when Brisbane scored from the resulting corner for throwing away certain victory for the Wanderers.

Only people within the Western Sydney club knew for weeks afterwards Janjetovic needed injections to be able to play on. He would take painkillers just to do a warm-up.

Janjetovic’s shoulder was so badly damaged that it required a ground breaking operation and, so far, 10 months of rehab.

A goalkeeper pilloried by his own fans for several costly errors last year, Janjetovic faded from view. As the injury had worsened, and his form disintegrated, he never made public reference to it.

All we saw was a goalkeeper making mistakes — letting that Roar backpass slip under his foot.

Watch every Hyundai A-League game LIVE & On-Demand on KAYO. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >

“A couple of minutes before, (Roar’s Adam) Taggart had a shot low to my right, that was the moment my body just shut down,” Janjetovic told The Weekend Australian. “I remember just stretching out for it, making the save and it felt like a knife go through my shoulder. My body went into shock.

“From then on, I trained every day and played every game until the Sydney FC game about two or three games out from the end of the season. I just couldn’t do it any more. It was too much every day, diving constantly on the same shoulder. I’d had a few injections to play but that’s basically an anaesthetic so it numbs the whole shoulder. You don’t know if you’re doing further damage.

“Every day I was feeling it more and more, taking painkillers before warm-ups. I never felt comfortable going into a game, but I was put out there to do a job.”

He played on until the derby in round 25, making a memorable save to preserve a point, then finally giving in to surgery.

His surgeon admitted the damage was worse than feared.

“Where it was badly torn he chopped it, got rid of the useless parts and stretched the tendon all the way back down,” Janjetovic said. “Essentially starting from scratch, which is why the rehab took longer.”

Janjetovic became one of the first people in Australia to have a Regenten implant — bovine-sourced achilles collagen stapled to the tendon so it fuses over and strengthens the repairs.

By this stage coach Markus Babbel had told him he could look for a new club.

“The injury did affect my decision-making and the way I played,” Janjetovic said. “I didn’t do myself any justice pushing on and playing. You get criticised, everyone has a go on social media. They don’t know (about the injury). All they see is the end product. And obviously the end product was myself making bad decisions that year.”

With Swiss keeper Daniel Lopar signed for another two years, Janjetovic’s Wanderers future is uncertain. “I’ve learnt to be more patient, listen to my body,” he said. “No one really knows how I’m feeling, so all that bullying online is a no-go for me. People can say or write what they like, but at the end of the day they couldn’t walk in my shoes.”

The Daily Telegraph