Edinburgh City: Revitalised Callum Crane on why his mystery injury was a laughing matter

Callum Crane knew he was about to become the laughing stock of the Edinburgh City dressing-room when the left full-back was ruled out for four and a half months.

Diagnosed with an inflamed pubic bone in September, the jesters of the pack were only too keen to discover just how the former Hibs youth player had sustained such an injury.

“There were a lot of jokes going around about how I got the injury, I'm not going to lie," the 25-year-old told the Evening News. "But I genuinely still to this day have no idea how I managed to injure myself in that area.

“I just remember being in some discomfort at a training session and then it kept flaring up. Even just turning over in bed I was in a lot of pain so I knew then I was just going to have to bite the bullet and see what the problem was.

Callum Crane has returned to action for Edinburgh City after four months out with a mystery injury

“I ended up going to the doctor to get all the checks done – I'll not go into what that involved though! But it was just the bone itself that was inflamed. The worst thing about it was it wasn't a knock or anything I'd done to cause it, it just sort of happened.

“I had to take my time because the physio warned me if I continued to play then I could be out long term. It was really just rest and recovery, a little bit of rehab, but that's all I could do. I just had to make sure I was strengthening the muscle around the bone.

“It was a long lay-off. And, just as I was about to step things up, I contracted Covid so that delayed the process even further."

Crane was handed his first start in a Citizens jersey in 19 weeks in Monday night's 3-2 impressive victory at play-off rivals Forfar, the game having been rescheduled after Storm Malik had wreaked havoc 48 hours prior. Gary Naysmith's side are currently fourth but have a game in hand on the teams around them.

The Capital men now turn their attentions to tomorrow's trip to Stranraer where another three points is high on the agenda.

“It was great to get a start and even better to pick up the three points as Forfar is a tough place to go," Crane explained.

“I think at one point earlier on in the season we had 11 or 12 out due to injury or Covid. If you take that number out of any side you're going to struggle.

“So, seeing others returning from injury, plus some new additions the gaffer has brought in last month, I think our result at Forfar showed we're ready to have a strong second half to the season and finish as high as we can.

“But we now have to look towards Stranraer where we can expect a similar game. The goal at the start of the season was to win the league but we're honest enough to admit it's going to be incredibly hard to catch Kelty. We want to finish second, though, get into the play-offs and earn promotion that way.

“I think we've got six games in the next 21 days so the games are coming thick and fast. But having been out for so long myself, they can't come quick enough."

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