Maidstone United forward Hady Ghandour was in pain for months before groin operation

Hady Ghandour is pain-free for the first time in months and ready to kickstart his season at Maidstone.

Ghandour, 22, is back after an operation to fix a long-standing groin problem that goes back to the end of the Stones’ National South title-winning campaign.

The forward was on loan from Charlton at the time, signing a permanent deal over the summer following his release by the League 1 club.

He enjoyed a strong pre-season at the Gallagher, despite his groin injury, but finally admitted defeat when the pain became too much after Maidstone’s 5-0 defeat at Wrexham in August.

After a period of rest, he attempted a comeback at Barnet at the start of October but the injury didn’t go away and, ultimately, he required surgery.

“I feel good,” said the Lebanon international, who made his comeback as a late substitute against Altrincham last weekend.

“I had my op six weeks ago. It’s been quite a long one because I felt the injury six or seven months ago.

“I was playing through the pain towards the end of last season.

“Pre-season came, I still felt it, and it became a bit too much.

“After the Wrexham game I was in hospital and it took a month-and-a-half to diagnose me because I had a lot going on in the groin area.

“They finally found out what I had, which was kind of complicated, but it was a routine procedure and I was back training three or four weeks after the op.

“As an athlete, you play through pain but progressively it got worse and worse and I couldn’t do it in the end.

"I tried coming back at Barnet but I still felt it and then we had a friendly against Welling where I played 80 minutes and came off in pain.

“Smudge (Paul Smith, physio) said it might be Gilmore’s groin, and it was.

“Hats off to Smudge. He helped me a