AFTER failing to recover from a broken ankle, Croesyceiliog's vastly-experienced goalkeeper Pat O'Hagan thought his playing days were over - and promptly threw away his gloves and boots.

Now, however, the former Cwmbran Town and Cardiff City stopper has been given the all-clear by medical experts to resume playing after having a mini tumour removed.

"I'll bestarting training as soon as possible - in fact as soon as I've bought some new gloves and boots because I threw my others away when it looked like I wasn't going to play again," revealed O'Hagan, who won aLeague of Wales title-winning medal with the Crows in the inaugural1992-93 season.

"Any sort of game for the reserves by the end of the season would be a massive bonus for me as I look to build to start again properly next season."

O'Hagan explained that after having pins and plates inserted into the ankle, he also had to contend with a bone growth which led to the eventual removal of that mini tumour.

"I did most of the pre-season training in the summer, but knew something wasn't quite right," continued O'Hagan, who scored one goal, at Bangor City in 1999 direct from a goal kick, in 245 WPL appearances for Cwmbran.

"A further scan revealed the injury hadn't healed from two years ago and because of that, I'd unknowingly played for most of last season with a broken ankle - so I was very lucky indeed to get away with it."

After being released by Cardiff, O'Hagan joined Swansea City, Stroud (now Forest Green Rovers), Gloucester City, Cwmbran, Briton Ferry Athletic, Llanelli and Inter Cardiff before signing for Croesyceiliog.

His last game was on May 5 last yearwhen he skippered Croesyceil-iog to a 2-1 Gwent Senior Cup win over Cwmbran at Abergavenny Thursdays'Penypound Stadium.