Huntly striker Angus Grant bounces back from career-threatening knee injury to become Highland League football’s top striker
A sickening knee injury put Angus Grant’s career in jeopardy three years ago - now he’s north football’s top marksman.
The 26-year-old netted his 20th goal of the Highland League season on Saturday - in just 15 starts - and is being tipped for a step-up to the SPFL ranks.
He netted Huntly’s second in a 3-2 victory at Inverurie Locos. Sam Robertson netted the first, and also grabbed a stoppage time penalty winner after Locos came back from 2-0 down at Harlaw Park.
Grant’s personal story could have been very different when he ruptured both of the main ligaments in his knee in 2021 and needed surgery to rescue his playing days.
He was out of action for a year, spent the next year trying to see if he could make a full recovery, and is now in the form of his life.
“I’d be lying if I said this wasn’t ahead of expectations,” he said. “I have it in my own head that I’ve got that capability but if you look at years gone by, there’s probably not a lot of strikers that have got 20 goals by this point.
“It must be right up there and it’s a good achievement by myself.”
The Christie Park goal-getter’s prolific goals ratio has impressed the very best, with Huntly’s record scorer Martin Stewart recently revealing his admiration for the Black and Golds’ centre forward.
Like every good front man, the secret of Grant’s remarkable success this term comes down to belief in his own ability after a great run on the goals front.
“My main target for this season was simply to beat last season’s tally when I got 13, so I am past that by a good bit.
“I then wanted to beat my best-ever tally in the Highland League which was 17 and I’ve done that as well. Now it’s a case of taking every game as it comes.
“If I’m being totally honest I’m feeling more confident than I’ve ever done in my life. Every single game that I play, in my own head I’m expecting to score. I’m feeling that good and playing that well, and when the chances are coming they are going in.
“As every good striker should have, I've got that arrogance about me at the moment that I think that most games I play in, I certainly am going to score.
“When you look at how many games that are left, there’s definitely more goals there for me but I’m not setting myself any targets. The main thing for me is trying to do the best I can for the team, trying to score in every game I play and to keep that ratio up.
“It adds to my confidence when I am going into games wanting to score, and being hungry to score.”
Grant is grateful to Huntly for funding his knee surgery, which involved reconstruction of both his anterior cruciate and lateral collateral ligaments.
He says the support given to them by the club helped his pathway towards full recovery, and he is pleased to be repaying them with goals.
“It’s no secret that I’ve gone through it in terms of injury, and a pretty significant injury that could have potentially ended my career, if I hadn't had the support around me that I had.
“I’ve said it many times how much I owe Huntly in terms of that, and I will always stand by that. They have been fantastic to me putting me through the surgery and everything after that as well.
“It was never about them throwing money at me and going to get the surgery, but more about the support that they gave me. Little things like being in and around the place and being part of the scene even when you are hobbling around crutches.
“Right from the top to the bottom of the club, everyone has been really good to me over the course of the time that I was injured. It’s really good for me and makes it that little bit sweeter that I am back scoring goals because that’s exactly what I wanted to do.
“I ruptured my ACL and my LCL, and I think I got one of them internally braced or possibly both. Whatever happened, it worked.
“In terms of between when I got injured to when I came back it was just under a year, but I tell people it was more like a year and a half by the time that I managed to get going again.
“It might even be two years before I started getting back to feeling a bit more normal in terms of running around and changing direction, and getting back to being where I wanted to be.
Scoring 20 by the start of November has certainly put the former Turriff United attacker on the radar of higher level clubs.
And while some may suggest that his time is running out now that he is aged 26, Grant is refusing to rule out future opportunities beyond the Highland League.
“In many ways it has always been my dream to play at as high a level as possible,” he said.
“With my injury, in my own head I felt that ship had probably sunk. But if I’m being totally honest, I’m feeling better than I ever have and although I’m 26 I certainly feel a lot younger than what I am.
“I don’t see any reason why I couldn’t play at a higher level. I have the confidence right now that I feel whatever team that I go to, I will score goals.
“I’m not pushing for a move or looking for a move, but I definitely feel that if anything came about that I could go anywhere and score goals. That’s what in my head at the moment.”
