It was more than three years between games for 36-year-old Dodd when he made his playing return earlier this year in the South Australian NPL with the MetroStars.

The ex-Adelaide United star hadn’t played since being released by Perth Glory after struggling to overcome a serious knee injury sustained in March 2013.

He’d worked as an assistant coach at WA club Bayswater City, before deciding to have one last crack at playing after returning to his home city earlier this year.

Dodd was motivated to show that he could get back to playing after his anterior cruciate ligament injury and Tuesday’s clash with Bentleigh might be his ultimate test yet.

“There’s something inside me that wanted to prove that I could come back and play again, even if it wasn’t at a professional level,” Dodd told FourFourTwo.

“I wanted to know in myself that my knee was going to be okay and it’d hold up to being able to play again.

“Even when I came back to Adelaide, playing wasn’t really on the agenda. I had a couple of chats with the coaches here at Metro and ended up coming down and it’s been great.

“We’re in a position now where we can go and win things.”

The MetroStars have already won the Federation Cup in South Australia and are in the mix to qualify for the finals, as well as the FFA Cup Round of 16 despite being underdogs against 2014 semi-finalists Bentleigh.

Earlier in the season, the veteran battled groin, calf and hamstring issues, or “old man injuries” as he puts it.

Fresh from sitting out Saturday’s 2-1 win over Croydon Kings, Dodd is hopeful of making an impact against Bentleigh.

“I’ve probably played four or five 90 minutes,” Dodd said. “To be fair, I don’t think the fitness is there to run out a full 90 minutes at 100 per cent.

“If I can get through 60 or 70 minutes, or even 80, hopefully we’ve done enough to put the team in a winning position.

“It’ll be the first time I play in the FFA Cup as well, so it’s a great buzz for me.”

Dodd hinted this season is likely to be his last, despite overcoming his initial issues.

“The way that I approached the start of the season wasn’t great,” Dodd said.

“I missed most of pre-season and then when I came back into training, I went straight into training 100 miles per hour.

“Coming off the back of doing nothing for 18 months it was always going to be difficult.

“The first half of the season I was getting a few soft tissue injuries because the body wasn’t prepared for the workload straight away.

“As the season has progressed, I’ve been able to get through games a lot more and injuries have subsided a bit.

“It’s a matter of being able to manage the body properly during the week for the weekends.

“In saying that it’s been a tough year on the body, so I’m not sure what’ll happen next year.”

In the short term, Dodd played it cool on the MetroStars’ chances against Bentleigh, who are currently seven points clear in the Victorian NPL, but held hope.

“We don’t want to get carried away,” Dodd said.

“Bentleigh are a great side, top of the table and it’s no fluke they’re in that position.

“We know we’ve got our hands full but anything is possible in one-off games.

“Playing at home on an artificial pitch, something they won’t be used to, hopefully it plays into our hands.”