Kevin McBride could have been carrying ankle injury for almost a decade

The midfielder was given the shock news as scans revealed the root of his problem was two small pieces of bone floating around in his right ankle.

Although no-one knows exactly when the 28-year-old sustained the original injury, it came to light after he was forced to hobble out of the 1-1 draw with St Mirren in Paisley at the end of November.

McBride has now returned to action, appearing as a second-half substitute in last weekend's Edinburgh derby, thanks to a special insole, designed by club podiatrist Bill Kerr, which has been inserted into his boot.

He said: "The insole is intended to lift the arch of my foot and so take the pressure off. I actually didn't train until the day before the derby and now it is really just a case of playing through the pain barrier.

"There's nothing they can do, an injection won't help nor will opening it up. Hopefully it will go away and I'll get used to the insole. To be fair, it isn't too bad, it's a lot better than it was, it's still a bit sore but nothing like it was. The medical staff have done a good job. They said it could have happened as far back as nine years ago and it possibly reacted to the knock I took at St Mirren. It seems the bits of floating bone have been there for a while but I have no recollection of the injury which might have caused it in the first place.

"I was just delighted to get back into the action last weekend and hopefully I'll continue to be involved from now on in."