Smith surgery is a success

Apr 3 2009 by Paul Behan, Paisley Daily Express

STRICKEN goalkeeper Chris Smith last night received a major boost after learning that the surgery on his badly-injured knee has been successful.

Smith, 23, went under the surgeon’s knife at a hospital in England on Wednesday to repair a damaged cruciate ligament and is expected to be out of action for up to a year.

But, boosted by the news that the operation went well, Buddies boss Gus MacPherson is backing the popular goalie to knuckle down and return to action better than ever.

MacPherson told Express Sports: “From what the surgeons are saying, the operation went well and the man who carried out the procedure is very experienced in this field. Chris is in good hands.

“Basically, they have reconstructed the ligament in his knee and the next step is to get the knee into a brace that Chris will need to wear. It’s hard to tell how long he will have to wear it.

“The main thing is that Chris has had the surgery and now it’s in the hands of the people who matter most – the medics and Chris himself.

“We’ll be led by them and, once the brace comes off, he’ll no doubt start his rehab.”

The unfortunate Saints keeper has not had his troubles to seek in recent seasons.

Smith was rushed to hospital more than 12 months ago when he was struck down by a mystery glandular illness after going on international duty with the Scotland Under-21s.

As a result, Mark Howard was drafted into first team action and he continued to hold the number one jersey until February, when Smith came out of cold storage and played in the 2-2 SPL draw with Falkirk.

‘Smudger’ continued to take care of the goalkeeping duties for the next five games against Motherwell, Hearts, Celtic, Aberdeen and then Celtic again in the Homecoming Scottish Cup quarter-final, in which he helped Saints to a clean-sheet in that famous 1-0 win.

But, after Saints returned from their week-long warm weather training camp in Marbella last month, Smith experienced discomfort in his knee.

And, following subsequent scans, his cruciate ligament problem was diagnosed.

MacPherson, though, is confident Smith will put in the necessary amount of work to ensure he fully recovers from such a serious setback.

He added: “It’s all about hard work now and Chris will concentrate fully on his rehab and be guided by the medical staff.”

In other news, the St Mirren medical staff are monitoring Steven Robb’s fitness after the midfielder suffered a recurrence of his hamstring injury.

MacPherson said: “It’s not too serious but we won’t take any chances.”