With a quarter of the season left, Ritchie is well ahead of schedule and is back running and kicking a ball again although both the midfielder and Gaffer Davie Robertson were quick to stress that they won’t be rushing him back into action soon and will likely be next season before we see the former Locos playmaker blossoming the Balmoor grass again.
Ritchie praised physio Donal Gallagher for the work he’s done in getting him back on the fitness trail. At the weekend, we spoke at length about the process behind the recovery. He said, “At the time of the injury, I knew it was a bad one, I felt a pop in my knee when I took a step and you know at the time it’s not going to be good, I got X-Rays and MRI scans and it turned out it was cruciate and you are getting your head round the fact that you won’t be playing again this season.
“I went private for my operation through the club and I worked a lot with Libby Emmerson at Back Onside who was brilliant as was Jim McInally. The club were really good in the sense they knew the NHS waiting times were going to be long and it would have to be private for it to be done this season, I had to wait seven weeks before it could get operated on. The Aberdeen physios were really good when I picked up the injury.
“I have done two-hour sessions in the gym most days myself so it’s been a long, tough process. Donal has been brilliant with me, there’s no chance where I’d be without him just now, I see him three times a week as he’s a clinic at his house so it’s pretty much full-time and I was up doing a session at 11am on Saturday morning doing runs and drills.
“Ever since I came on loan from Inverurie Locos, the club has been brilliant and all the directors come down to training, I’m just taking things as they come and not rushing into anything, the biggest thing is to avoid redoing it so my focus is on next season. It’s important not to rush it and Davie understands it as he went through the same when he played.
“I think it’s important to try and stay part of the group and I always come to games whether it’s home or away, the family has been brilliant with me as well as they took time off work to travel down to Glasgow. I am back on the balls now and running and feel a lot fitter already and was back shooting with my left foot on Saturday, it’s about the balance of not doing too much but it’s been positive so far.
“At the start of the injury, you do a lot of pre-surgery work and they couldn’t operate until the swelling went down, I had two months and that’s still quick but it was a hard two months. Now, I am excited for coming back when ready.”
Everyone at Peterhead FC is delighted that Hamish is back on the mend. We look forward to having a fit and ready Hamish returning to action soon.
