Hibs' Martin Boyle reveals all on horror Rangers concussion - and 'funny story' to come out of it

Australian forward opens up on sickening injury he picked up last month

Positives were in short supply for Hibs after losing 3-1 to Rangers. That defeat, coupled with Dundee’s 2-1 win at St Johnstone, ejected them from the top six with two pre-split matches remaining. Being the right side of the divide come April 13 is now not in their own hands.

However, the sight of Martin Boyle returning to action as a second-half substitute following a serious concussion episode last time Hibs faced Rangers on March 10 was pleasing. The speedy forward showed little effects of the brain injury he sustained when clashing with John Souttar. Hibs will need him if they are to finish the season with any kind of flourish.

Standing within the bowels of Ibrox, Boyle explained what he has been through during the past three weeks.

Hibs' Martin Boyle comes on during the 3-1 defeat by Rangers at Ibrox.

“The head feels much better,” the Australian said. “It was obviously a difficult period, but the international break came at a good time, so I had time to recover. Obviously it wasn’t ideal what happened. In terms of the precautions, everyone did the right thing, got me into the best possible care, which was brilliant. It’s not nice having your family members rush down from the stands, you know? I like to put a scare into people! It wasn’t nice. Thankfully I’ve managed to recover.”

What does her remember? “Nothing,” he revealed. “Nothing at all. I don’t remember anything about the game, it’s just a blur, and obviously I got home the same night. But I wasn’t in any condition to have conversations. I don’t remember going to hospital. My wife was in the ambulance, I don’t really remember that. I kind of came round after the scans. But after that I was in bed for six days straight. I couldn’t cope with daylight, couldn’t look at my phone, it was kind of tough, I was feeling sick. Thankfully I came out the other side of it. There have been worse head knocks than mine. Thankfully everything was in place.”

Boyle had to go through SCAT5 tests – Sport Concussion Assessment Tool – before he could return to any sort of action. “The doctors were good, they talked me through the scans, the physio came and checked on me,” Boyle said. “So there was a lot of care. I took the medication when necessary and tried to rest as much as possible. That wasn’t easy with the kids running about! But everyone showed their support, which was nice.

“I still get little minor headaches. Nothing to worry about, because I’ve passed all my necessary checks. I did a SCAT test, memory thing every morning, which is part and parcel of it. And I’ve trained every day this week, been symptom free for five days, so the manager asked if I would be ready to play.”

Boyle added that the tests were one of the harder parts. “It gives me a bigger headache, having to do a lot of remembering!” he laughed, showing he is back to his normal jocular self. “But it’s just things like ten words you have to remember, try to say it back, runs of numbers backwards, days of the week and months … it’s actually pretty simple.

“We do it [the tests] at the start of every season, just in case a concussion does occur. Actually, after the concussion, I beat the score that I had pre-season. That doesn't make sense, so it's a bit of a funny story to come of it! But thankfully I'm in the clear.”