JIM Kellermann is hopeful he will be given the all-clear to join his Woking team-mates when pre-season training begins next week. 

The instrumental midfielder, 27, made 46 appearances for the Cards last season but was forced to leave the field injured in the first half of the club’s play-off eliminator defeat to Bromley in May. 

Kellermann told the News & Mail: “I tweaked my hamstring during that game and I knew it quite early on. 

“I think there was a trigger point where their left-back turned me and whipped the ball in from deep, and luckily the offside flag went up. 

“But I just turned to the bench and I was like ‘I’m going to get rolled inside and out here. I can’t really push off with any power’.

“So that was really disappointing. And for the next two weeks it was a bit of a comedown from losing the game. 

“But in the off-season I’ve felt really good. I feel I’ve done some really good work so I’m going in a little bit earlier than the rest of the lads just to do some fitness tests to get clearance to be all good for the start of pre-season.”

Asked about his summer, Kellermann – who is halfway through a two-year deal with the Cards – said: “It’s been brilliant. 

“I’ve been away on holiday, had weddings to go to and caught up with old friends, so it’s been really nice.

“And it’s especially nice after what was, on reflection, a good season from everyone and hard work, so you feel you’ve earned the rest. But I’m looking forward to getting back now and I’m ready to play some football.” 

Last season the former Wolverhampton Wanderers academy product scooped the Woking players’ player of the year award. 

Kellermann said: “It was a really proud moment and I’m very grateful to all the lads for that award, especially because I think there were so many candidates for it last season. 

“But I want to say this as well, because I was thinking it when I was putting my own vote in – if Jermaine Anderson had stayed fit, he would’ve romped every single award because that’s the effect he had on our team last season. 

“I know how the rest of the squad feels about him and he was an absolutely enormous miss when we lost him.” 

Asked how he thought his first season with the club had gone after joining the Cards from Chesterfield, Kellermann said: “I’ve enjoyed every second of it. 

“It’s probably one of the best places I’ve been in my career in terms of the dressing room, manager [Darren Sarll], the club and the owners. 

“Everything is going in the right direction. And even the people around the club – the volunteers, the staff – everyone’s on the same page and it’s a really happy place to be. 

“And in terms of last season, everyone’s saying we over-achieved, but as soon as I saw who the gaffer had signed, I thought ‘there’s no chance this team won’t be right up there’. 

“The biggest surprise was how good Notts County and Wrexham were. 

“Next season is going to be even harder for us. Even though we’ve kept the majority of the squad and the gaffer’s made some good additions to it, everyone’s looking at us now as a team that’s going to be contenders for promotion.

“When you’re the chasers, it’s almost easy. But when you’re the ones being chased, it becomes a lot harder. So that’s something we’ll have to manage early on. 

“We’ll have to get used to being the ones people want to beat.”