Sorry Steven left mortified by pole prank
St MIRREN skipper Steven thompson has apologised to team-mate John McGinn after accidentally spearing him with a training-ground pole.
the Scotland Under- 21 player is now on crutches and will miss the rest of the season after a prank at Saints’ Renfrewshire training ground went badly wr on g on thursday.
Gary teale’s first- team squad were doing a dribbling drill when veteran thompson lost possession to McGinn and stumbled into two poles which were intended for the players to run through.
thompson threw one at McGinn in jest — and to his horror it stabbed the youngster on the leg, leaving him requiring hospital attention.
thompson subsequently scored two goals in Saints’ 4-1 win over Kilmarnock on Saturday and is believed to have given his win bonus to his stricken team-mate.
But on Sunday night, the striker was still coming to terms with injuring one of the club’s brightest talents in such a bizarre manner.
‘the whole thing has been a complete nightmare,’ he said. ‘John is going to be OK but I’m mortified that it happened in the first place. I was having a carry-on and it turned sour.
‘ It was a stupid prank, something silly, and it ended with John being injured. I can’t apologise enough.’
thompson netted his 50th goal for his boyhood heroes at the weekend. But he insists it’s been impossible to get the training-ground incident out of his mind.
‘It’s all I’ve been able to think about since it happened on thursday,’ he added.
‘ I feel so bad. It was an accident but it’ s still something I regret.
‘We were doing a drill where, to score goals, we had to dribble between two poles which were sticking in the ground as gates.
‘When I got to a set of poles, John tackled me and one of the poles got stuck between my legs.
‘It sounds stupid now but, for banter, I grabbed one of the poles and pretended I was doing some kind of ninja move.
‘I threw it into the ground behind John who, by this point, was running away and facing in the other direction.
‘But as I did that, he did a Cruyff turn and the pole stabbed him in the leg. We were only a few feet apart. It wasn’t as if I launched it 10 metres like a javelin. He was right next to me.
‘I just hadn’t counted on him changing direction when he did.’
thompson could only watch in horror at what unfolded.
‘It was just horrendous,’ he said. ‘It was the worst thing I have seen in my life. Since then, it’s all I’ve been thinking about.
‘It popped in and out of his thigh instantly and for a few seconds his leg was black. But then blood started pouring out of the hole.
‘John was obviously in agony. A few of us carried him inside and he got treatment. It was horrendous.
‘I’ve been shocked by it and really down. I like a l augh and a j oke in training but this is just unbelievable.
‘Saturday was a big day for me but all I’m thinking about is John.’