Hibs' Duffy relives his nightmare at East Mains

The former Rangers and Falkirk hitman had returned to Scotland aiming to kick-start his career at Easter Road under mentor John Hughes but two months on he has still to pull on a green-and-white shirt.

Now, however, the 26-year-old is hoping that day won't be too far away after a hospital check gave him the green light to throw away the "moon boot" which had been protecting his right foot and to take the first steps towards full fitness.

He said: "It was a big day for me, if the X-ray went well I'd be able to take the boot off, if not I'd possibly have had to keep it on for another few weeks.

"I had my fingers crossed and thankfully it was good news."

Naturally Duffy is desperate to make up for lost time but, he admitted, patience will be the key, recalling how he missed nine months as a teenager with exactly the same injury in his other foot.

He said: "I'll have a week of gym work to build up the muscles in my leg, no running but low impact stuff like walking on an incline and on a treadmill and if it goes well progressing to some light jogging.

"Hopefully the week after that I'll be able to get outside and do a bit of running before another X-ray which, fingers crossed, will give me the all-clear to resume full training and after that it will be up to the manager to decide when I am fit enough to be involved.

"I'm not setting myself any targets, I know better than to do that because if you miss them then your head starts to go again. But hopefully I'll be with the squad in the next three or four weeks and then we'll take it from there."

Weeks of inactivity have given Duffy plenty of time to contemplate what might have been, admitting to a sense of frustration at being unable to play any part in trying to turn the Easter Road outfit's fortunes around before Hughes and Hibs parted company at the beginning of the month.

Having jumped at the chance to be reunited with Hughes, a season-long loan deal agreed with Bristol City, Duffy was told he'd be making his debut against Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Hibs' first match following his transfer day deadline move. But that joy turned to despair the day before Caley's visit to the Capital as Duffy recalled. He said: "I was in the second week of training, getting to know all the boys and then the gaffer names the team and I'm in it.

"We were ten minutes from the end of training that Friday when I turned to chase the ball and I heard a crack. I tried to run it off but it was too sore. I knew something was wrong and I feared the worst on the way to hospital."

An X-ray showed Duffy had broken the fifth metatarsal in his right foot, an injury which required an immediate operation in which a screw was inserted. He said: "I did the exact same thing when I was 17 at Rangers. Again, there had been no-one near me, I just turned and it went.

"I didn't have surgery but waited six or eight weeks before running only for it to go again. I waited another eight weeks but it went for a third time, I had an operation and ended up being out for nine months.

"I'll be itching to get on with it now, but the physio will have to rein me in and make sure I don't try to do too much too soon."

Adding to Duffy's frustration was the knowledge Hibs podiatrist Bill Kerr had identified a potential problem and was planning to fit "orthoses" inside his boots. He said: "Bill had spoken to me in my first week and spotted I had high arches in my feet although, other than that broken bone at Rangers, I'd never had any problems.

"He was going to fit a couple of orthoses to give my feet a bit more support, more a precautionary step than anything, but, Sod's Law, this happens."

Despite Hughes' departure, the former Hibs star replaced in the Easter Road hotseat by Colin Calderwood, Duffy insisted that, as far as he is concerned, nothing has changed. He said: "I'd enjoyed working with Yogi at Falkirk, the plan was to come here and hopefully emulate the success we'd had there.

"However, I feel I am in exactly the same position as I was when I arrived, nothing has really changed. I still have to work hard in training every day, prove I am good enough to be in the starting XI and then score enough goals to ensure I keep my place.

"Of course it has been really frustrating, being at a new club when the team are going through a wee bad patch and all you can do is watch and hope they can turn things round while itching to get out there and help.

"At first, it wasn't too bad, I was on crutches and couldn't get about so all I could do was wait for the results to come through on television. But as I have become more mobile, able to drive and go to matches it's become worse, taking in the atmosphere at the stadium but not being able to get onto the pitch and play.

"Who is to say, of course, whether anything would have been different had I been able to play. Not being in the position to play was frustrating enough but then to hear Yogi bemoaning my absence only added to it."

Frustration, however, has been the name of the game for Duffy all too often recently, opportunities at Hull City limited particularly after the departure of manager Peter Taylor, loan moves to Hartlepool and Swansea resulting in a permanent switch to the Welsh club before he moved on again to Bristol Rovers where, despite scoring 13 goals in his first season, he found first-team opportunities restricted.

He said: "I'd always done well when I'd got a run in the team at those various clubs and enjoyed varying degrees of success but my time at Bristol was the most frustrating. I felt I was never given the chance to play, if I played two games and didn't score I was out and then when I did get the chance I seemed to be subbed after 50 or 60 minutes every week regardless of how I was playing or the team was doing. I went to Carlisle on loan, tore my hamstring and Bristol Rovers called me back early but again I didn't play. So I came up here looking forward to it all, really excited about the move and then this happens. It just goes to show you never know what might happen in football.

"Early in my career everything was going right for me, the last few years it's gone in entirely the opposite direction but, hopefully, once I am fit again it will start heading the right way again."