Former Canaries goalkeeper Jed Steer has put on football boots for the first time in almost six months as he continues his recovery from injury.

The Aston Villa stopped suffered a partial tear of his Achilles in November, which all but ended his season just as it was getting started – his first Premier League appearance in more than four years lasted just seven minutes, after he started at Wolves in place of the injured Tom Heaton.

The 27-year-old spent months in rehab and was nearing a return to full training before the coronavirus pandemic brought football to an abrupt halt in March.

“I remember the ball going over my head and thinking, ‘I could be in a bit of trouble here’,” Steer told Sky Sports.

“I was back-pedalling and went to take off to try and get something on the ball, then felt as if I had been shot in the back of my leg.

“The scan came back with a partial tear of my Achilles.

“The rehab has gone really well and, as worrying as it is with the UK in lockdown, these weeks off have given me extra time to get stronger.

“It’s been frustrating that I haven’t been able to get out on the grass sooner, but this time at home has given me the chance to really work on my strength and it felt so good to get my boots back on.”

Steer came through the ranks at Norwich but only ever started two first team games – both in the FA Cup – before he joined Villa in June 2013. He played a major role in their promotion alongside City last season, but still has only 17 league starts to his name – even though he is the club’s longest-serving first team player.

Steer is happy to bide his time, especially given the pandemic crisis which has cast doubts over Villa’s return to Premier League action.

“Thousands of people have very sadly lost their lives and minimising the amount of people catching the virus is all that matters at the moment,” he said.

“Of course football has to take a back seat. Pepe (Reina) has talked about the horrible coronavirus symptoms he had. Unfortunately our club masseur Big Al got admitted to hospital with the virus, which was horrible to hear.”