For James McPake, there is finally light at the end of a very long, dark tunnel.
The 32-year-old Dundee defender has worked tirelessly to battle his way back to full fitness after suffering a horrific knee fracture at the start of this year in a derby at Dens with United.
McPake’s rehab is bang on course and while he will not put a date on starting back in full training, he is edging closer and closer.
So he was delighted last week to put pen to paper on a contract extension that will keep him at the club until 2019.
It was a rare piece of good news for those of a Dark Blues persuasion as the club toil at the foot of the Premiership table and McPake said: “Discussions had taken place and we had been speaking about it behind the scenes.
“Obviously it wasn’t something the club needed to rush into.
“They took their time over it and rightly so. They waited to see how my knee was coming along.
“They have done their checks and spoken to the medical people.
“We are both equally confident that I am going to come back and be able to play.
“Regardless of that, I feel I am a big part of the football club behind the scenes.
“I try to help out any way I can. I love doing the coaching, helping out with the 20s but ultimately I want to be back playing.
“I think in the weeks leading up to my injury, I wasn’t right as I was carrying a few niggles.
“I didn’t want to stop but I don’t think my form was great so I have a wee bit between my teeth where I want to get back and playing well for this club.
“I still feel when I do get back I have a lot to offer.”
He added: “I have been there before where I have said I want to be back for this game or this month.
“When you don’t make it, you get disappointed.
“Right now I am at end-stage rehab. I am doing pitch-based stuff, trying to mimic the movements of training and games.
“I have been doing that for the last couple of weeks but I am at the point where I am not going to rush it.
“I have been out for nine and a half months now and it is really important that when I return I don’t go back out again.
“You see that a lot where you can sometimes get back but within three weeks you break down again.
“That’s what we don’t want to happen. I want to come back in good condition. I have been superbly looked after by the medical department. The rehab has been great, no stone has been left unturned in the work we have been doing and I am not far away from joining in real training.”
McPake damaged his knee when he made a crunching challenge on United’s John Rankin.
Straight away, it was obvious from the reactions of players from both sides that it was a serious injury.
However, McPake insists that even if medical opinion said otherwise, he was always determined to make his playing comeback.
He said: “I thought it was a decent whole-hearted challenge from both players.
“Ranks said the same when I spoke to him.
“I slid in with my right foot and my left leg was trailing. As I knocked the ball away, Ranks has gone to shoot and his follow-through kicked my left knee.
“Ranks has quite big thighs and is a strong boy so for him to kick your knee it is going to cause you a problem.
“Right away I knew when I looked and saw the displacement in my knee there was a problem.
“Obviously I didn’t know just how severe it was at the time but I definitely knew there was something wrong.
“Everyone was great with me on the pitch. I said it at the time that there are rivalries and everyone wants to win but when things like that happen on the pitch, that’s when you see the real spirit of football and the togetherness that can be there.
“I was delighted with the way they reacted and it was a great help and gesture from a lot of their players.
“I was taken to hospital and they did a lot of tests and an X-ray.
“You could see the problem with the kneecap but the other worry was the ligaments like the cruciate.
“I was very fortunate that there was no damage whatsoever to any of the ligaments which the specialist couldn’t believe.
“I then had an op and wires and a screw were put in.
“They were in for four months and then they come back out. After that, it broke down again but since then it has been plain sailing.
“I saw three different surgeons and I think one of them was less positive. He had seen me from the start and had witnessed the full extent.
“But it wouldn’t have mattered if I had been told I wouldn’t be back playing, I would have believed that I could have – I still do believe that and it is getting closer and closer.”
