'It will be special' - Shannon McGregor set for emotional Hibs return in front of watching family after second ACL recovery

There will be a few tears shed when Shannon McGregor emerges from the tunnel at the Balmoral Stadium tomorrow.

Hibs' Shannon McGregor is hoping for 60 minutes against Aberdeen tomorrow (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)

The Hibernian Women midfielder is pushing for her first start in a green-and-white jersey in 20 months when the Capital outfit travel north to face Aberdeen in a SWPL Cup quarter-final tie.

For 21-year-old McGregor, who grew up in the Granite City before her move to the Hibees in 2017, this weekend marks the culmination of a 12-month journey back to full fitness after she injured her cruciate ligament in her right knee for the second time last October.

Following a gruelling rehabilitation programme that included surgery in April, she managed 14 minutes as a second-half substitute in the SWPL 1 win over the Dons at Livingston's Tony Macaroni Arena almost a fortnight ago.

And now she feels ready to take the next step.

"I'm allowed 60 minutes tomorrow so hopefully I can get that," McGregor told the Evening News. "It will be even better with the game being back home so my family can come and watch. My dad comes to most games no matter where they are but the rest of them will be there this time. My mum was crying when I came on at Livingston two weeks ago so it's definitely going to be more emotional this one. My grandma has also not seen me play in years so it will be special."

McGregor insists tearing her ACL for a second time in three years was a lot harder to digest.

"The pain is excruciating – you know instantly," she said. "You're in shock really. Things were a lot harder because of Covid and I'd already missed six months of football before the injury happened because of the shutdown. This time I had a lot of waiting around to do before I even got the operation.

"At that point I did wonder if I could go through it again because I wasn't even allowed to do a bike session. All I could do was upper body stuff in the gym so I think that was probably the most difficult part. You just need to set small goals and take things slowly but you're always thinking how desperate you are to get back on the pitch. But the club always made me feel part of the team despite being out so that always helped."

McGregor is now focused on trying to help steer current holders Hibs into the semi-finals despite their patchy form in the league so far.

She said: "We've still got the players at the club to be challenging for cups and league titles. Obviously there has been a lot of changes at Hibs in recent times, which probably makes it more difficult to be consistent.

"But there have been huge improvements from when I first signed. We're semi-professional now whereas before we weren't getting paid so it's encouraging. I think with the new CEO (Ben Kensell) coming in too, it's going to be even more positive going forward. Aberdeen are a good side, very solid in defence and hard to break down so we'll need to be patient. But I believe we have the quality to win the game. I just can't wait for it."

Meanwhile, Spartans will be hoping to reach the last four when they host SWPL 2 outfit Dundee United at Ainslie Park.

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