I’m lucky injury did not end my career - Murray

Dunfermline defender Euan Murray has revealed doctors told him he was lucky his recent neck injury had not ended his playing days.

The former Motherwell defender damaged his spine in a nasty fall against Queen of the South back in August and was sidelined for a worrying five months as he recovered.

The 26-year-old suffered a bulging disc in his neck and nerve damage, and was originally told he faced at least eight weeks out.

The summer signing from rivals Raith Rovers has confessed to not initially realising the severity of his injury. However, he admits the reality later hit home when speaking to specialists in the wake of hospital tests. He said:

“There was no malice in the challenge at all but, unfortunately, I landed neck first on to the surface and it felt like I had crashed into concrete.

“They’d called for an ambulance, they’d put me on a stretcher in a neck brace, then I stood up, ripped the neck brace off and walked into the changing room. I just wanted home so I got changed, went on to the team bus and then went to my bed.

“The next day was when I knew something was up because I had a weird feeling inmyarmandihadneverfelt that kind of sensation before.

“Then you get the scan results back and they show you the X-rays and say how I am extremely lucky that I can still play football.

“All the evidence is in front of you with no ‘ifs, buts or maybes’ and that is when it hits home. It really shook me up, badly, especially as it wasn’t healing as quickly as they’d initially imagined.”

Now he is back fit and playing in the Pars’ first team, he insists the incident will not affect the way he plays in future.