Leg break victim Jack Purdue played his first game for Annan since last October’s horror incident in another massive step towards a full recovery.
He came on for the last eight minutes of the Galabankies’ 1-0 friendly win over Northern Premier Division side Atherton Collieries on Saturday then spoke of his delight following the match.
Purdue at one time feared he would never play senior football again and was also shocked at surgeons declaring his operations as a successful “limb-saving” procedure which brought home the enormity of his injury.
The 21-year-old said of his comeback: “It has been a long time,
“I have not seen the footage (of the leg break) and don’t really want to. Maybe in another five years or so.
“We were on the counter attack and that tackle has happened so many times before. But my foot just planted and the bones just snapped.”
He added of his brief appearance: “I get nervous before games anyway, but this time it was more to do with my leg.
“I have yet to go in to a 50-50 and I feel when the first time that happens then that will be when I get over it to a certain extent.
“I was only on for about the last 10 minutes, but even at that I have to gradually build myself up.
“I started doing the warm ups towards the end of the season. The weird thing is that I broke my leg but my ankle is the sorest part of my leg. They put two pins in my ankle and they are giving me a bit of gyp.
“The first operation in Dumfries the next day after it happened was to put the pins in, fix the bones plus put in the metal rod and my leg had swollen so it blew up. The swelling couldn’t go anywhere and so they had to slice me open.
“But they could not shut it so I got transferred to Glasgow to the unit where they do burns and stuff and they had to take a graft from my own thigh (then close the leg up).
“I cannot thank the club enough with the physio costs they paid and I have just finished the physio back home and now I am coming here three times a week while hammering myself in the gym.
“My leg is stronger than any part of my body and it has five pieces of metal in it.
“I was in for 16 days and the first three or four were the worst of my life.
“It was during Covid-19 and my mum and dad were allowed in on the Saturday it happened, but only for 10 minutes at a time each.
“After that it was face time talks and zoom calls for 15 days.
“Now I just need to get game time under my belt.”
The injury happened in a 1-1 draw with Stranraer on October 24 last year at Galabank as Purdue was on a diagonal run when a clumsy tackle by the Blues’ Grant Gallagher caught him.
Purdue insisted he has no grudge against Gallagher and said: “Grant was gutted after it. He messaged me the day it happened and I know it wasn’t intentional. He was just trying to stop the counter attack.
“Grant suffered an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injury before and was out for a while so I know it wasn’t malicious.
“He messaged me the day it happened. I don’t have a bad point to say about him.”
“But Jack knows he has a long way and a lot of hard work to go.”
