Just as Tom Lawrence had played a key role in getting us into the Champions League and Rangers started to look much more of an attacking threat, the Wales international suffered the most unlucky of knee injuries, over stretching for a ball in the 94th minute of a game that was already won.
To make matters worse, when he returned to fitness, Lawrence injured his Achilles and has now been ruled out until next year following surgery that the 29-year old has hailed as a success, as reported by The Rangers Review:
“Appreciate all the messages over the past week off everyone, not how I wanted my first season to go at Rangers with injuries.
“After trying everything over the past five months in and out of the gym the only solution was to have surgery and get ready to play again next season.
“Surgery went well and I’m looking forward to getting back on the pitch in the near future.”
Lawrence, with his post on social media, confirms just how unlucky he has been. Not only has he had two serious injuries but conservative and non-invasive treatment has failed. This means that he has virtually wasted the whole season and delayed when he will be able to play again when, if he had gone under the knife sooner, he could already have been back.
The thing is, it’s not quite as simple as that. Specialists, consultants, doctors and physiotherapists will always look to avoid surgery because it can lead to problems further down the line. It’s a team effort and the Rangers medical team will have been advised on what treatment protocols to follow, he won’t have been misdiagnosed or incorrectly treated.
Rehabilitation isn’t always black and white and there are no guarantees that what works for one player will work for another, there is always a degree of trial and error with complicated injuries – Lawrence has been desperately unlucky but, hopefully, what has happened to him this season will drive him to success when he returns.