St Johnstone defender Tam Scobbie is the miracle man of McDiarmid

Tam Scobbie is aiming to complete a miraculous recovery from injury in the new season.

St Johnstone defender was injured as Saints crashed to Inverness Caledonian Thistle in February.

But stayed on the park, not realising he had ruptured every ligament in his right ankle.

The damage was so extreme that the first specialist he saw refused to even try to fix it.

Luckily, a second doc was willing to completely rebuild the destroyed joint but was left in a state of shock after Scobbie managed to run to the shops the night before surgery.

The fit-again star now accepts that was a huge risk, and three months on he’s finally ready to put his injury hell behind him at McDiarmid Park.

He said: “When I first did the injury, I thought it was nothing. But it turns out I’ve been really lucky. I remember feeling my leg go ‘pop’, and thinking that it was a bit funny.

“After the game, I went home with the ice machine and didn’t think too much about it. I was even telling the gaffer I’d be fine to play against Motherwell on the Tuesday.

“But the physio said he wanted me to get a scan and we couldn’t believe the results.

“The ligaments around my ankle, and then up into my tibia and fibia, were wrecked. There was nothing holding my bones together.

“I got sent to a specialist and he took one look at it and said: ‘Sorry Thomas, there’s nothing I can do for it’.

“Luckily, his colleague was able to fit me in, and he had seen my sort of injury before. When I went in to see him, he was looking at me funny, checking the way I walked.

“He told me that he usually sees rugby players with the injury and they usually come in on a stretcher!

“I’d actually been for a run the night before, because I needed something from the shops, and felt fine.

“The doctor was horrified when I told him. He said my bones could have come out of place completely and that would have been it.

“But it feels fine now. I’ve been back training with the lads and I’m hoping to be ready for the European game in a few weeks’ time.”

Scobbie’s injury meant he watched from the stand as St Johnstone lifted the Scottish Cup in May, and he admits doing so was difficult.

He said: “Having missed out on that, I want a taste of it myself now. Murray Davidson has already said it was one of the worst days of his career because he wasn’t involved either, and that’s the same for any player.

“But you’ve just got to put that away to the back of your mind and hopefully I can get back to the level I was at.”