Collingwood defender Matthew Scharenberg has made a successful return from injury in the VFL Magpies' nail-biting four-point victory over Footscray at Victoria Park.

Playing just over three quarters of game time, Scharenberg looked strong as he provided a sound offensive performance while defending with accountability against a formidable Bulldogs attack.

“It was just great to be back out there playing footy,” Scharenberg told Collingwood Media post match.

“Obviously the first port of call for me was just to get through unscathed and I thought I did that relatively well.”

As the season goes on, Collingwood’s defensive capabilities continue to be praised at both an AFL and VFL level.

The addition of Scharenberg into the VFL side today created another capable option after injuries to Darcy Moore and Tony Armstrong last week.

The No. 6 draft pick in the 2013 draft was comfortable in his role in defense and believes the efforts of the backline were influential in today’s victory.

“All day the back six just held up really well,” Scharenberg said.

“I think we were really good at helping each other out and I think that was a major contribution to the end result.

“It was a bit close for comfort in the end, but it was great to get the win.”

Collingwood development coach Tarkyn Lockyer knows the feeling of returning from a long term injury.

The 227-game midfielder missed large parts of the 2003 and 2004 seasons with knee and foot problems and understands the difficulties in recovering from injury.

“It’s terrific for anyone to overcome a long-term injury like he has,” Lockyer told Collingwood Media.

“I think thought he performed reasonably well and he got through unscathed which is a bonus for us.”

As is often the case with returning players, the injury-management factor came into Scharenberg’s game with the match on the line at three-quarter-time.

He remained on the interchange throughout the final term and watched his teammates surrender the lead before goals to Brenden Abbott and Ben Kennedy secured a Collingwood victory.

With a win and a successful return under his belt, Scharenberg will now turn his attention to playing a full game next weekend in Bendigo before returning to normality.

While he admits it was hard to watch the final stages of today’s game from the boundary-line, he is optimistic of his season going forward.

“It was always going to be just the three quarters for me today,” he said.

“Hopefully I’ll get to play a full game next week and go from there. I’ll just look to get that match fitness (back) over the next period of time and then hopefully later on in the year I’ll put my hand up.”