Caley Thistle defender Carl Tremarco is relieved his cruciate ligament injury is not worse despite facing up to six months on the sidelines.
Tremarco suffered the injury during his side’s 4-2 defeat by Motherwell this month, which left Caley Jags five points adrift at the foot of the Premiership.
Although Tremarco will not require an operation, the 31-year-old faces an absence of between three to six months.
Tremarco reckons he got off lightly but says there was no malice in the challenge from Well midfielder Chris Cadden, which forced him to be carried off after only 13 minutes of the Fir Park encounter.
The left back, who is Caley Jags’ leading scorer this season with seven goals, added: “It was a nothing tackle. Chris Cadden’s knee has caught the side of my knee and, at the time, I didn’t think I’d done anything.
“I could put weight on it, I got back into the dressing-room straight away and thought I’d been a bit rash, because I felt fine.
“I was thinking I should have stayed on. Luckily, I didn’t. Chris actually sent a text me a few days after, which was nice. There was nothing in it – it was a clean tackle.
“It’s quite lucky, because usually when you do your posterior cruciate ligament you do your anterior cruciate ligament as well. But the scans showed nothing else was wrong around my knee. It’s a pretty straightforward rehab.”
The injury means Tremarco will be on crutches at his wedding to fiancee Jenna this summer but the Englishman is thankful the damage was not greater.
Tremarco said: “I’ll be hobbling down the aisle on crutches.
“She’s not too happy – the first thing she asked was if I had to keep it on for the wedding and I’m afraid I do.
“When I first thought I was out for next season, the wedding was knackered, so the fact I’ll be back just after the start of new season, I’ll take being on crutches for my wedding to be back for then. There’s people worse off than me, I’ll get on with it and keep smiling.
“I’ll get a programme while I’m away to work on it and keep my leg strong. It’ll be a quiet summer but a busy rehab.
“My lad, Sebastian, texted me asking how my knee was and how long I was out for. I told him I didn’t know and his response was ‘OK’. So, I get no sympathy from him. But I’ll come back stronger and kick on from next season.”
