St Johnstone defender Dave Mackay has taken the phrase “playing through the pain barrier” to a new extreme, after he revealed that he endured Saturday’s SPL opener against Hearts with a broken back.
The full-back soldiered on until the discomfort caused by a fracture to a bone near his spine proved too excruciating to continue early in the second half.
However, he insisted that even if the injury is not fully healed by the weekend, he will put his hand up for selection again against Aberdeen.
A specialist doctor who assessed Mackay, and has treated countless footballers and rugby players, said it was an injury he had never come across in sportsmen before now.
Indeed, he suggested that the fracture was more likely to show up in car crash victims.
Mackay, who sustained the blow to his back in a pre-season match in Ireland, said, “I originally thought it was just bruising, which was taking a bit of time to go, but I got a scan last Tuesday which showed up a fracture.
“There’s a crack in a bone at the right side of my spine.”
He added, “The doctor was as surprised as me when the scan came back. He said it was an injury which you would normally see after a car or motorbike accident when it’s really hard impact.
“He’s never seen it before in football or even rugby.”Pain “unbearable”Mackay said, “The injury happened in pre-season against Dungannon when one of their players came in late and kneed me in the back.
“To be honest, at the time I thought he was trying to do me, and the scan has showed he obviously caught me well.”
That was the end of the former Dundee and Livingston man’s pre-season, but he was back in the starting line-up at Tynecastle.
He said, “I took an injection on Friday to see if I could get through a training session, because I hadn’t trained for about two and a half weeks.
“It wasn’t too bad, but it was a pretty light session.”
He added, “I took another injection and some painkillers on Saturday but the pain was getting unbearable by half-time. When I came back out I was really struggling so I had to come off.
“It’s when I sprint or twist that I feel the most pain. Not having trained a lot didn’t help in a 100mph game either.”
Mackay said, “Maybe in hindsight I shouldn’t have played, but I was desperate to take part and was willing to give it a go.”Ticket details announcedMackay and manager Derek McInnes may have the same dilemma this Saturday as they did last.
The full-back said, “Rest is the only thing for it so we’ll see how I am at the end of the week again.
“I would take painkillers if there was a slight improvement but if I’m only 50% I wouldn’t be doing anybody any favours in that state.”
He added, “I hate missing games and thankfully it didn’t happen too often last season.”
Mackay hasn’t been the only Saints defender visiting hospital for a scan in recent days.
Fellow full-back Danny Grainger feared the worst when he clattered into a post against Hearts but his diagnosis of severe bruising presented Mackay with an open goal he wasn’t about to pass up.
He said, “I texted him at the weekend to say ‘I can’t believe you were stretchered off with a bruise.’
“At least my scan actually showed up something. There was nothing there with him.”
Ticket details have been announced for Saints’ trip to Ibrox on Saturday, August 28.
Season ticket holders will be given priority and can buy tickets (£23 and £7) on production of voucher number 29 from their season ticket books on Thursday and Friday between 9.30am and 5pm.
The ticket office will also be open immediately after Saturday’s home match against Aberdeen.
A general sale of tickets will start on Monday between 9.30am and 5pm and weekdays thereafter between the same hours.