FIT-AGAIN Adam Buxton has revealed the full, gruesome extent of the freak ailment that kept him sidelined for four months - and his determination to make up for lost time.

Accrington Stanley’s versatile full back celebrated his first game since mid-September with a career-first goal on Saturday.

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And while it proved to be only a consolation for the Reds in the end, as they suffered a 2-1 defeat at AFC Wimbledon, Buxton hopes it can be a turning point personally, after having his daily exercise limited to nothing more strenuous than walking until the turn of the year when an ingrowing hair turned nasty.

“I was training and my leg started hurting at the top of my left thigh,” he explained.

“Morgs (physio Paul Morgan) said that it was just a spot. I went home and stupidly stuck a needle in to pick the ingrowing hair out. It got infected and swelled up and became a massive abscess.

“I went to the hospital and they lanced it and drained it - leaving me with a hole in my leg while it healed naturally - but then got another one and then another. I ended up getting five!

“It was so frustrating. I’d get rid of one and another would come up. I wasn’t worried they wouldn’t go away because the first one was massive and they got smaller and smaller. But then I got one on the other leg that made me think ‘what is going on here?’ “The doctor said my immune system had just totally shut down so I’ve been on antibiotics all that time and have to keep taking them now.

“Morgs said he’d never heard of anything like it.” Buxton added: “I couldn’t train at all or even break sweat. Normally when you are injured you can do other stuff like going in the gym and doing weights but I was basically doing nothing for three months.

“The doctor at the hospital told me to do nothing after the operation (to remove the first abscess) because sweat could cause a reinfection and swelling.

“I ended up just walking around the pitch while the lads were training, which was a bit frustrating.

“It doesn’t help when it’s freezing cold either!

“I’d never had an injury in life before really so I didn’t know what to expect.

“You tell people that it was an ingrowing hair that turned into an abscess and they can’t believe that would keep you out for four months.

“You break your leg and you’re out for that kind of time. This isn’t really an injury!

“But Morgs has been brilliant with me. Some days I’d be coming in and down and wondering what the point was and he’d pick me up and tell me I’d be back in no time and just to keep my head down and keep working hard.

“I owe it all to Morgs really. It’s down to him that I’m back.”

Buxton isn’t out of the woods yet, requiring antibiotics for a further three months. But he won’t let that hold him back.

“You don’t realise how much you miss it until you see the lads training and everyone buzzing about.

“When you’re back it makes you appreciate it and try to make the most of it,” said the 22-year-old, who has been doing extra fitness work at Edgehill University to get back up to speed and make an impression on manager John Coleman, who came in just a Buxton was ruled out.

“It couldn’t really have been timed any worse. I haven’t play from then until now,” he continued.

“It’s been nice to show them a bit what I can do and get back out on the pitch at the weekend.

“Now I’ve had a taste of it, and a goal, I just want to play every minute that I can because I’ve missed so long.

“I’ve been out for so long that it’s just a big relief to be back playing.”

Buxton is hoping to be involved again tonight, when Stanley host Bury in the re-arranged game, and hopes for a better team outcome this time.

“We just need a win,” said the former Wigan defender.

“When you’re playing Saturday-Tuesday if you don’t get a decent result on the Saturday then you have the Tuesday to put it right. It’s better to play sooner rather than later and hopefully we can prove that and get a win.

“Once you get that result and follow it up with another you very quickly kick on. It can be hard when you’re on a run of defeats but that win can make such a difference.

“To chip in with a goal on Saturday - something I don’t usually do - was good but the result wasn’t the one we were looking for.

“The most important thing is three points and we weren’t able to do that so we have to move on and put that right.”