Rory McArdle: Exeter City defender pleased to be back after freak injury
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Rory McArdle had scored his first Exeter City goal earlier in the match before his injury
Warning: This article contains injury description
Exeter City defender Rory McArdle says he has recovered after a freak clash left him with a gash to his scrotum during a League Two match.
The 33-year-old needed 10 stitches in the injury he suffered at Stevenage at the start of last month.
McArdle made his first start since the injury on Tuesday.
"It's not something I've ever seen since I've been playing or come across and because it was new I was a bit worried," he told ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Sport.
"But when you've got a big cut and you can see parts of your body that you probably shouldn't see, it starts to worry you a little bit."
'I felt a bit of a stinging sensation'
The former Rochdale, Aberdeen and Bradford City defender joined Exeter in the summer after leaving Scunthorpe United and his first season in Devon has been hampered by injuries, but his latest setback was one he could not have foreseen.
"It was towards the end of the game and the lad had been slid through," McArdle recalls of the injury, which happened late in the game in which he had scored his first goal for the Grecians.
"I knew he was offside but the rule at the minute is the linesman doesn't flag until the opposing player's touched it, so I followed him in, and as I blocked the shot he followed through and he's caught me in the nether regions.
"I didn't really think too much of it to be honest, I got up and trundled back up the pitch.
"I felt a bit of a stinging sensation, I thought I'd best check and from a visual point of view I was a little bit worried."
Having been initially seen by Exeter physio Gareth Law, the home side's doctor and medical team took over McArdle's care.
"I can't thank their doctor enough, how quickly he handled the situation and used his personal details to make sure we got looked after at the hospital, which when you have an injury in a region that you're not used to having they dealt with it great," he added.
"From a male point of view people talk about that region. When someone gets hit with the ball in that region everyone screws their face up and worries at that.
"I've had cuts in other places and you just say 'stitch me up' or you put a bandage on and out you go.
"The perception of where it was makes it a lot worse than it was."