All set for a return to the football pitch - then disaster struck.

Elgin City midfielder Lewis Hyde was in line to play his first match since August when his team took on Edinburgh City last weekend.

An entertaining contest finished in a 0-0 stalemate, but Hyde didn’t appear in the home squad as expected.

Just two days before, the former Caley Thistle player suffered a training injury and was left wearing a protective boot.

Manager Stefan Laird said he was devastated for the player, but was hoping that his ankle injury might not be as bad as first feared.

“Unfortunately he suffered an absolutely freak injury on Thursday night with the last kick of training,” said Laird. “That was devastating, to be honest

“He was tremendous in training and he would have featured (against Edinburgh City).

“He blocked a shot that almost flipped his ankle underneath his leg, and he went down on it.

“We're hoping that it's just a really, really bad sprain.

“He's in a boot just now. (It’s) devastating for him, he was devastated so that was a real dampener on Thursday.”