Ben Purrington shares Ross County injury hell as left-back details early retirement scare

Ben Purrington feared his career might be finished in darker moments last season for Ross County with mystery surrounding his injured ankle.

What was only meant to be a 12-week absence became a seven month ordeal as the former Charlton Athletic, Rotherham and Plymouth left-back stared down his worst fears. After making the switch from Charlton, Purrington started all 16 games under Malky Mackay prior to an ankle fracture in October last year. Initially told an operation was unnecessary, the 27-year-old toiled in recovery and went under the knife, eventually returning to fitness in April this year after 21 missed matches.

Even then, it would be another two months and the Scottish Premiership play-offs before Mackay threw him back into action despite frequent substitute listings. Purrington, now three games into his comeback this season - with a first start last week against Hearts - is feeling top of the world.

But he recalled: “Mentally, it’s not easy when you get told initially it’s a 12-week injury. It then escalates into seven or eight months. Every few weeks you feel like you are set back another bit. You aim for a game, but then it becomes a month later. It’s not ideal. Especially when you go to the staff and they ask you ‘how are you?’ and you say you are all right, but you are not all right. You don’t know what to say. It was a bit of an eye-opener. There are people such as Alex Samuel here who were injured for a lot of the time.

“It’s not just you, there are other people around you in the gym. You just try to give each other a bit of support. There are guys like Ross Callachan and Ben Paton out just now, so you feel sorry for those lads. There was a spell where I did think ‘is this EVER going to get fully right?’