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IT was January 13 this year, an FA Cup tie at Roots Hall, Southend.
Joe Cole remembers it like yesterday.
"I thought I'd been shot in the bloody knee," he said about the cruciate damage that took nine months out of his career.
"I knew there was something seriously wrong but I just wanted to play on. First, I didn't want it to be bad. Second, I don't like to show people I'm hurt.
"The position I play in, the fact that I'm not exactly the biggest and some people may think I'm a push-over, I do take a lot of kicks.
"So you don't want to let anyone know you're hurt. It's an embarrassment. As for going off on a stretcher - no way.
"Looking back on it, it's silly because the damage had been done and I shouldn't have carried on.
"It was the shock of it all. I was doing a little move and I was just shoved off balance. It was nothing, so innocuous.
"I thought, 'I'll run it off, I'll give it a go'. I went back on, I tried to do something and it just wasn't happening.
"I went back down again and I immediately thought of Michael Owen against Sweden at the World Cup in Germany.
"The desperate way in which he was crawling towards the touchline in agony knowing he was in big trouble. No England player on the pitch that day will ever forget it.
"Yes, I scored a belter but my over-riding memory will be the stunned look on Michael's face. Him of all people after all the injuries he had been through.
"Now I know that pain. You think it can't happen to you - well I did anyway."
I have always been a bit sceptical about professional footballers but I have to admit Joe Cole is one of the best of the breed.
I'M BACK ... Joe Cole enjoys Kalou's goal against QPR
And, yes, this is a player I once described at West Ham as a bit of a show pony.
Now, though, at 27, there is great maturity, tremendous strength of character and an undisguised love of both the game and what it has bought him.
If that sounds patronising, it's not meant to.
As Cole prepared for tomorrow's showdown with Liverpool at Stamford Bridge, he said: "I have been out a long time and it's been hugely frustrating.
"But my mindset has always been that I will not let it beat me. I will not surrender to it.
"From day one, the plan was to work as hard as I could to get back into this Chelsea team.
"I know I can't expect to be the player I was straight away but I know I will get there.
"I played well in my first game back against QPR and that just made me even more determined to get everything I can out of the game."
He has already had six different managers at Stamford Bridge. For most of those, players like Frank Lampard, John Terry and Didier Drogba were automatic starters.
Cole, though, had to prove himself to all of them.
Then, in the summer as he was recovering from the first major injury of his career, Chelsea signed the left-sided Yuri Zhirkov.
For England, Steven Gerrard was being realigned by Fabio Capello in the wide position Cole had assumed in his last game for England - the pivotal 4-1 thrashing of Croatia in Zagreb.
Much food for thought. Yet far from diminishing Cole, it galvanised him.
As he said: "I love having to prove myself. I love the challenge, I love the fact there are people out there doubting me.
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"I know in my heart I will be back stronger than ever - whether it's this week, the week after or a few months down the line.
"To be honest, I thrive on adversity and people doubting me. I have had it all my career and I have always proved them wrong.
"It adds fuel to the fire. I don't tend to read too much about myself because I don't want to be seduced by the good words or deflated by the bad.
"I just want to go out and do it. I look at someone like Ryan Giggs playing at the top level at his age and it just inspires you.
"And I say to myself, 'I'd love to be doing it for Chelsea, the club I supported as a kid, at his age'.
"As for any Spurs bid in the summer, I don't know anything about it. All I know is Chelsea still want me, have told me they have no intention of selling me and I love it here.
"I have a bond with the players and fans - and I want to stay.
"That genuinely means everything to me. I know you can become cynical as a player but, even with all the money and medals in the world, if you go out there on a Saturday playing with your mates and the fans right behind you... that's what it's all about.
"I know just how lucky I am. If I ever have a sulk when things don't go well, I have people around me who quickly let me know.
"Yes, I've worked hard to be in this position but you can never take anything for granted.
"I'm living in Chelsea with my lovely wife, all my friends and family around me, and I'm at the club I love.
"Everything is rosy. I'm sweet, cushty.
"In the last five years, I think people have seen me as the player I am.
"But even though there is still an enormous challenge ahead, I firmly believe there is more to come.
"I'm not going to let this injury rob me of my best years, I just won't let it happen."
As he was recovering from his own injury in the summer - and getting married to long-time girlfriend Carly Zucker - Cole paid for a knee operation for Peter Brabrook, the former Chelsea and West Ham favourite and his first coach at Upton Park.
Yes, he's got the money. But the gesture said it all about Joe Cole, one of the good guys.
Joe Cole remembers it like yesterday.
"I thought I'd been shot in the bloody knee," he said about the cruciate damage that took nine months out of his career.
"I knew there was something seriously wrong but I just wanted to play on. First, I didn't want it to be bad. Second, I don't like to show people I'm hurt.
"The position I play in, the fact that I'm not exactly the biggest and some people may think I'm a push-over, I do take a lot of kicks.
"So you don't want to let anyone know you're hurt. It's an embarrassment. As for going off on a stretcher - no way.
"Looking back on it, it's silly because the damage had been done and I shouldn't have carried on.
"It was the shock of it all. I was doing a little move and I was just shoved off balance. It was nothing, so innocuous.
"I thought, 'I'll run it off, I'll give it a go'. I went back on, I tried to do something and it just wasn't happening.
"I went back down again and I immediately thought of Michael Owen against Sweden at the World Cup in Germany.
"The desperate way in which he was crawling towards the touchline in agony knowing he was in big trouble. No England player on the pitch that day will ever forget it.
"Yes, I scored a belter but my over-riding memory will be the stunned look on Michael's face. Him of all people after all the injuries he had been through.
"Now I know that pain. You think it can't happen to you - well I did anyway."
I have always been a bit sceptical about professional footballers but I have to admit Joe Cole is one of the best of the breed.
I'M BACK ... Joe Cole enjoys Kalou's goal against QPRAnd, yes, this is a player I once described at West Ham as a bit of a show pony.
Now, though, at 27, there is great maturity, tremendous strength of character and an undisguised love of both the game and what it has bought him.
If that sounds patronising, it's not meant to.
As Cole prepared for tomorrow's showdown with Liverpool at Stamford Bridge, he said: "I have been out a long time and it's been hugely frustrating.
"But my mindset has always been that I will not let it beat me. I will not surrender to it.
"From day one, the plan was to work as hard as I could to get back into this Chelsea team.
"I know I can't expect to be the player I was straight away but I know I will get there.
"I played well in my first game back against QPR and that just made me even more determined to get everything I can out of the game."
He has already had six different managers at Stamford Bridge. For most of those, players like Frank Lampard, John Terry and Didier Drogba were automatic starters.
Cole, though, had to prove himself to all of them.
Then, in the summer as he was recovering from the first major injury of his career, Chelsea signed the left-sided Yuri Zhirkov.
For England, Steven Gerrard was being realigned by Fabio Capello in the wide position Cole had assumed in his last game for England - the pivotal 4-1 thrashing of Croatia in Zagreb.
Much food for thought. Yet far from diminishing Cole, it galvanised him.
As he said: "I love having to prove myself. I love the challenge, I love the fact there are people out there doubting me.
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Dim adsVB,poadsVB=0If ScriptEngineMajorVersion >=2 then adsVB=1Function adsAX(aX)on error resume nextIf adsVB=1 thenadsAX=Falseset po=CreateObject(aX)adsAX=IsObject(po)If (err) then adsAX=FalseElseadsAX=FalseEnd IfEnd Function "I know in my heart I will be back stronger than ever - whether it's this week, the week after or a few months down the line.
"To be honest, I thrive on adversity and people doubting me. I have had it all my career and I have always proved them wrong.
"It adds fuel to the fire. I don't tend to read too much about myself because I don't want to be seduced by the good words or deflated by the bad.
"I just want to go out and do it. I look at someone like Ryan Giggs playing at the top level at his age and it just inspires you.
"And I say to myself, 'I'd love to be doing it for Chelsea, the club I supported as a kid, at his age'.
"As for any Spurs bid in the summer, I don't know anything about it. All I know is Chelsea still want me, have told me they have no intention of selling me and I love it here.
"I have a bond with the players and fans - and I want to stay.
"That genuinely means everything to me. I know you can become cynical as a player but, even with all the money and medals in the world, if you go out there on a Saturday playing with your mates and the fans right behind you... that's what it's all about.
"I know just how lucky I am. If I ever have a sulk when things don't go well, I have people around me who quickly let me know.
"Yes, I've worked hard to be in this position but you can never take anything for granted.
"I'm living in Chelsea with my lovely wife, all my friends and family around me, and I'm at the club I love.
"Everything is rosy. I'm sweet, cushty.
"In the last five years, I think people have seen me as the player I am.
"But even though there is still an enormous challenge ahead, I firmly believe there is more to come.
"I'm not going to let this injury rob me of my best years, I just won't let it happen."
As he was recovering from his own injury in the summer - and getting married to long-time girlfriend Carly Zucker - Cole paid for a knee operation for Peter Brabrook, the former Chelsea and West Ham favourite and his first coach at Upton Park.
Yes, he's got the money. But the gesture said it all about Joe Cole, one of the good guys.