BURY defender Nathan Cameron admits he is taking nothing for granted after returning from his latest spell on the sidelines.

The 26-year-old’s career has been blighted by injury over the last couple of years, with cartilage damage restricting him to just five games between February 2016 and August 2017.

After just five games back in the side this season, the centre-half picked up a hamstring problem which ruled him out for seven weeks.

So Cameron is just glad to be back playing football having re-established himself in the Shakers’ defence.

“I’m loving it,” he said after last Saturday’s defeat at Portsmouth.

“It’s all I’ve wanted to do since I was a little boy. I feel like I enjoy it even more now because I appreciate it more, after all the injuries that I’ve been through.

“I’m just happy, especially coming to a place like this. There were over 17,000 and to play in front of crowds like this is what I dreamed of.

“Portsmouth won the FA Cup not long ago and they’ve still got a decent side, but I thought we put up a good fight and probably deserved something.

“I thought we defended well, especially in the first half. It’s a tough place to come to. They’re really good at home and they showed their quality a bit. I thought we dug in, but unfortunately a lapse in concentration cost us.

“We’re disappointed because we’ve worked on that every Friday for a while now. The manager stresses a lot on set-pieces, for and against. Unfortunately we conceded our first set-piece goal under him so he’s not happy, but we need to move on.”

Cameron has now started Bury’s last four games, including all three under new boss Chris Lucketti, and he hopes to prove his fitness during the festive period.

“I’m feeling good, I’m getting my sharpness through the games,” said the former Coventry defender, who is now Bury’s second longest-serving player behind Craig Jones.

“I’m working hard on the training pitch and I do a lot of work outside the training ground as well, to keep up with the boys.

“I’m feeling a lot better and hopefully the more games I play the more consistent I can be.”

Cameron has been captain in the absence of Stephen Dawson and Jermaine Beckford, but with Dawson back on the bench at Portsmouth after his own injury lay-off, Cameron insists he will now surrender the armband to the combative midfielder.

“He’s the club captain so I’m happy to hand it over,” he said.

“But it doesn’t really matter who’s got the armband, we’re all leaders on the pitch and we can all help.

“But he’s a massive player to have back in the squad and hopefully he can get back playing soon.”