In March this year goalkeeper Chris Smith learned that he had picked up a serious knee injury which could have had him out of the game for up to eighteen months.

Yesterday the keeper and Club Physio, John McCreadie, went to London to see the surgeon who repaired Chris' knee and the news is that the keeper is set to make a return to full training within the next few weeks.

John worked with Chris throughout his rehab and is delighted for the player in coming through such a quick recovery period.

He said, "Chris had his cruciate ligament reconstructed and his lateral ligament repaired just five-and-a-half months ago so he has done remarkably well over that timescale.

"His recovery hasn't been long, if you look at the overall time-frame this could have been anything from six to eighteen months so Chris has done remarkably well to get himself back to fitness in a period of more or less six months."

For John it is now about getting Chris prepared for full training and that should not be too far off happening.

He said, "Yesterday we went down to London to see the surgeon and he is happy with Chris' knee and has given him the go-ahead to do unrestricted goalkeeping activities, which is all about getting his eye back in, his touch and his reaction time.

"This means that we - myself and Paul Mathers - will now work out a wee programme to hopefully get Chris through the next couple of weeks and back to full fitness where he can join back in with the rest of the squad for training.

"Chris has been a really good professional through all this, everything he was asked to do he did it without any question, he was really good to work with as he worked hard and got on with what needed to be done."

When we spoke to Chris he was more than delighted at the news and suggested he could have made alternative travel arrangements home from London.

He said, "I'm really happy about the news - when the surgeon told me I could go ahead with things I could have flown home from London under my own steam."

Then Chris contemplated what is ahead for him over the next week or so: "Over the next couple of days I'll be working on goalkeeping stuff like jumping and diving then hopefully in a couple of weeks I'll be back to full training with the rest of the squad.

"I'm just looking forward now to getting back in with all the boys again - it'll get my shoulders back up again to be back in among the rest of the players.

"It has been a quick six months but in other ways it has been a long wait but I'm really looking forward to getting back into things again."

While Chris is delighted with his quick recovery he is also grateful of the support he has had from the Club, and of course for all the hard work put in by John McCreadie.

He explained, "The Club have really looked after me through all this and gone about it all so professionally - I can't thank all involved enough.

"The Chairman sent me to the real deal basically when I went to see the surgeon Mr Williams down in London - I'm just so happy with the way things have turned out.

"John has been absolutely fantastic through all this. At the time we discovered the injury it was John who seeked out advice on who the best person was to go and see and the Club were more than happy to support him in it.

"He set up my rehab programmes and he was very cautious through the whole process on how we progressed through it. It has been hard work but I have enjoyed working with John through all this."

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