Coca Cola Championship - Cardiff City v Nottingham Forest Venue: Cardiff City Stadium Date: Sunday, 1 November 2009 Kick-off: 1700 GMT Coverage: Exclusively live on BBC2, full commentary on BBC Radio Wales (SE FM), live text commentary online and updates on BBC Radio 5 Live
Bothroyd's fine form has reportedly attract Premier League interest
Cardiff City's Jay Bothroyd says he has been playing "through the pain barrier" all season after suffering a hairline fracture to his knee cap.
The injury has not prevented the striker from delivering a string of impressive displays, though, resulting in reported interest from Aston Villa.
And Bothroyd says he fears losing his place in the team if he takes a rest.
"Pain is temporary, quitting lasts for ever," he said. "I'm definitely playing through the pain barrier, I have to.
"The manager wants to pick his best 11 every week and at the moment I'm involved in that so I want to keep it going.
"The physios and the doctor have assured I won't do any long-term damage. It's just a case of resting at certain periods but at the moment I haven't got much time to rest.
"In the heat of the game you don't really think about when the adrenalin is flowing. You just want to win the game."
Bothroyd, who picked up the injury in pre-season, is forging a potent attacking partnership with summer signing Michael Chopra, helping to propel Cardiff to second in the Championship table.
The Bluebirds are the league highest scorers with 30 goals from 14 games, with 17 of those coming in their last five outings.
Peter Wittingham and Chopra and have grabbed the headlines with 11 and 10 goals respectively, but Bothroyd is playing a key role as a target man and supplier.
The 27-year-old readily admits he wishes he had scored more than his three league goals, but also stressed that results rather than individual statistics take precedent.
"Maybe that was our downfall last season," he told BBC Wales Sport. "Maybe people were thinking too much about leaving and what clubs were interested and we lost track of what we were doing.
"This season we have to be consistent and concentrate on the job at hand."
Consequently, says Bothroyd, the reports linking him with a move to Aston Villa have been put firmly to the back of his mind.
"Obviously I'm flattered," said Bothroyd, who joined Cardiff from Wolves for £300,000 last summer after a nomadic career. "When your putting in good performances and you see things like that in the newspaper it's flattering.
"I'm a professional and I just want to concentrate on the job at hand with Cardiff. I love being here and I want to get promotion with Cardiff.
"I owe a lot to them - they are responsible for turning my career around. I've got a lot to thank the manager and coaching staff, the fans and everyone at the place.
"We'll see that happens at the end of the season. We want to be in the Premiership with Cardiff. That's the bottom line."
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