ON ROAD TO RECOVERY FOR HUNTLY FORWARD McGOWAN

Huntly’s Gary McGowan could be back by Christmas after a complicated operation on his right foot. The 31-year-old former Caley Thistle, Deveronvale and Turriff United attacker, who is in his third spell at Christie Park, said: “I had a problem called Haglund’s deformity. I had a piece of bone growing directly on the back of my heel and it caused inflammation. The only way it could be corrected was to remove the piece of bone. “Unfortunately, as it was right beside my Achilles, they had to detach it, shave the bit of bone off, then reattach my Achilles tendon. “Now it’s just a case of letting the Achilles heal back on to the bone, then doing the rehabilitation. “I had the operation three weeks ago. If doctors hadn’t got to the bottom of the problem it could well have signalled the end of my football career. I did consider not going through with the operation but I feel I still have an awful lot of football left.” While on the injury list at Turriff last term, McGowan signed a precontract agreement with Inverurie Locos, a deal which was eventually scrubbed. He added: “It was such an unfortunate situation. Locos co-manager Scott Buchan was absolutely brilliant with me after I had signed that precontract. “I had decided not to play football for the foreseeable future. That was when the deal with Locos was cancelled. Then three weeks later I spoke to a surgeon who told me that if I were to undergo the operation the timescale for my return was about half the time I had originally thought, so I decided I wanted to play football again. “I’m upset it didn’t work out the way I expected with Locos, but on the other hand I’m delighted to be back at the club where I started my Highland League career. I came here from Caley Thistle on loan 14 years ago when I was 17.”

“Co-manager Scott Buchan was absolutely brilliant”

RECUPERATION TIME: Huntly attacker Gary McGowan has pencilled in a Christmas