McLeish hopes injury hell is over as Bonnyrigg battle on

McLeish was Bonnyrigg Rose boss Alan Miller's first signing after he led the Midlothian club to the East Region Super League title last season.

But he's been forced to watch from the sidelines for most of the current campaign after undergoing two knee operations.

It's been a frustrating time for the highly-rated playmaker, but he's now working his way back to full fitness and was delighted to come through his toughest test so far after lasting the whole game as 'The Rose' drew 3-3 with Kelty Hearts in the Super League on Saturday.

"It's been a nightmare," he said. "I think I'd only had one pre-season session when I got the letter from the hospital telling me to go in for the operation.

"I was hoping it would only rule me out for a couple of months but then had some complications and had to be patient after needing a second operation.

"I've just had to try and get myself back fit again. That's three games I've played now and Saturday was my first 90 minutes in six months.

"I'm working hard in training and, though it's been a slow process, I feel I am getting there with the help of our phsyio."

McLeish looked to have secured a valuable three points for Miller's men when he scored an 89th-minute penalty to put them 3-2 up in the home clash with Kelty only for the Fifers to snatch a draw through a spot kick of their own in stoppage time. "To go ahead so close to the end and then concede a penalty in injury time made it feel like a defeat," admitted McLeish.

"However, that was more like the performance we were looking for. It was a lot better than last week (when Bonnyrigg were knocked out of the Fife & Lothians Cup by Armadale Thistle] and hopefully we'll start going in the right direction now.

"We weren't at the races against Armadale, so we had to show the fans that we care about the club. I think we showed against Kelty that we've got a bit dig about us and hopefully we can take that into the next game and build on it."

McLeish is confident that Bonnyrigg, who are only above bottom-of-the-table Glenrothes on goal difference, will climb away from the relegation trapdoor over the coming weeks, especially with the squad having been strengthened by the recent arrival of Craig O'Reilly and Sean Martin.

"If we'd won on Saturday, we would have jumped five places so we're not reading too much into our league position at the moment," he said. "It is so tight and we are not too worried about that.

"There's been a big turnaround in players since the summer and I have certainly been impressed by what I've seen so far from Sean and Craig.

"Sean came on against Kelty and scored a great goal – he was also denied a second one by a great save from their keeper. He has great pace and is a player who can cause problems.

"Craig also looks to be a good addition as he can hold it up for us. All in all, I don't think we'll have any problems staying up."