Deveronvale manager Steve Dolan believes lockdown may have benefited Dane Ballard in his comeback from injury.
The striker suffered ruptured knee ligaments and a torn lateral meniscus in August 2018 and had only recently returned to action following an operation when football was shutdown in March as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Although Princess Royal Park boss Dolan would rather have been able to complete the 2019-20 campaign and get Ballard more game time.
He believes when Highland League clubs are able to start pre-season training it will give the attacker a good platform to get up to speed and back to his best.
He said: “I’m not sure if the break will have done him good. If he’d finished the season and scored a few goals it would have been positive.
“But then if he’d had a niggle and missed a few games we might have been saying a break would have helped.
“It’s hard to know but I don’t think the break will have done Dane any harm, he’s been doing a bit of training to keep ticking over.
“He was coming back before lockdown and was super eager to play and that’s been curtailed.
“But he did get a couple of games and I know he’s still been working hard so I’m hoping it benefits him.
“We had a few other knocks at the end of last season as well. Grant Noble missed a couple of months and Robert Scott missed a while as well. So hopefully whenever we’re able to start pre-season we’ll have them back fit and firing.
“It will be two years in August since Dane got injured so it’s two seasons he missed almost entirely. He’s got every confidence in the work he’s done to come back and so have I.
“Getting him back is a boost because he’s a massive player for us, but we’ll be careful with him in the first few games and see how he goes.”
