East Kilbride Thistle star fears injury on Jags return could end career

Scott Hadden fears his playing days could be over after suffering a horror knee injury 10 minutes into his East Kilbride Thistle return.

The 33-year was on the comeback trail after knee ligament damage kept him sidelined for almost a year.

But on Saturday the midfielder's dreams of getting back to regular football turned into a nightmare when he twisted his knee during a 3-1 win over Vale of Leven at the Showpark and he had to be carried off the field.

The full extent of the damage is not yet known due to the swelling but Hadden - who had worked tirelessly to get himself fit again - is just hoping it doesn't force him to hang up his boots with another lengthy spell out of action on the way.

The gutted Jags star said: "I've seen a physio I know and he's pretty sure I've torn the ligaments in my knee again, but he can't tell the full extent of the damage right now because of the swelling.

"I'm going to get a scan to find out, but he's pretty sure.

"My plan was to get back playing games at Thistle and work really hard over the summer to put the work in to be ready for next season.

"But I need to keep my knee in a brace for a couple of weeks now.

"I've just turned 33 so I thought I had a few years left, but I'll need to see how bad this is and take it from there.

"It's just the worst thing that could happen. I will be out for a while.

"I don't know if I will make it back this time.

"It feels the same as when I first did my knee last year, but from what I've been told so far I might need an operation to have a chance of playing again.

"Chucking it just now is not something I want to think about, but it just depends how bad the knee is.

"Before the game the Thistle fans were saying it was great to see me back and they'd never