Elgin City skipper Darryl McHardy is ready to put his injury woes behind him after making his comeback for the Black and Whites last weekend.
Defender McHardy played the final 11 minutes of last weekend’s 3-1 victory over Albion Rovers, after recovering from a three month absence with a dislocated shoulder.
McHardy suffered the injury in City’s first competitive game of the season, when they went down 2-1 to Arbroath in the Betfred Cup group stage in July 13.
Having been handed the armband of his hometown club in the summer by manager Gavin Price, McHardy is determined to make up for lost time.
McHardy said: “It was horrible. I thought it would be a case of popping it straight back in and carrying on, but it was stuck right in my shoulder blade. I had to be sedated and popped back into place, it was quite a bad dislocation.
“I did a lot of physio work with Andy Jones who has got me back to full fitness.
“I’m a terrible spectator, I was watching the league games from the sidelines with a couple of the other injured boys.
“I just couldn’t wait to get back and start helping them. Just being back in the changing room and knowing I was going to be in the squad on Saturday was a good boost.
“I had a knee injury for the last two games of last season which stopped me running until the end of June.
“I played a couple of pre-season games and it was straight into the Betfred Cup game where I got injured straight away.
“I’ve not had a good run of games for about six months, so it was good to get 15 minutes. I’m still not up to match sharpness yet, but it felt good.”
Elgin face League 1 side Airdrieonians in the Tunnock’s Caramel Wafer Challenge Cup at Excelsior Stadium today, however McHardy is not taking a return to the side for granted.
The 24-year-old added: “Hopefully I can play more minutes this weekend, and hopefully some more against Berwick.
“I’m aiming to get back into the team in the next few weeks. The defence has been doing really well so I don’t expect to go straight back in.
“I came on in central midfield on Saturday just in front of the back four on Saturday, which felt good.
“Andy came off injured for the last 10 minutes so I went back into centre half. He’s fit so I would imagine he will be start.”
Elgin defeated Championship side Dundee in the previous round of the Challenge Cup.
McHardy hopes to claim another scalp, adding: “We are just hoping to bypass Airdrie and maybe get into a quarter final. We are all hoping we could get a big home draw.”
