Hearts' Michael Smith reveals he was left fearing for his career after trampoline park trip

Michael Smith has bounced back from an agonising family trip to a trampoline park that left him questioning whether he would ever play football again.

And now, three months on, the Hearts defender is hoping that he and his team-mates will be jumping for joy when the final whistle sounds at Hampden next weekend.

Out with a bothersome back injury since mid-February, the 33-year-old Northern Irishman returned to action for the last 15 minutes of Wednesday night’s defeat to Motherwell as manager Robbie Neilson continued to piece his squad back together ahead of the Scottish Cup final.

"It was a disappointing result, but I am glad I got some minutes. I think by the final we should all be fit, apart from Beni,” said Smith.

"It's been tough. It was a weird injury because I couldn't do anything about it in the gym, it was just about trying to recover. I finally got the green light from the specialist to start playing again so that was nice. I can now look forward to the final.”

There was a time when the prospect of sitting out the Glasgow showcase against Rangers was the least of his worries, though, as he was forced to confront the possibility that his playing career might have come to a premature end.

“Yeah, I had doubts beyond that, I thought maybe I might not even play again,” the Northern Ireland internationalist revealed.

“That was the first question I asked [the specialist] as soon as he rang me, but he reassured me that I would be able to get back to playing which made me a lot happier.

"It was a frustrating injury. I trained on a Friday and went to take my son to a trampoline park. I tried to stand up afterwards but my legs were just in agony.

“I wasn't even on the trampoline! But I could hardly walk. My son was like