MORTON loan striker Alex Samuel last night went home to Swansea to have his left knee scanned and assessed by the medical department at his parent club to determine the extent of the injury.

Samuel suffered severe bruising and swelling after a bone-crunching collision with the opposition goalkeeper in the Ton Under-20s’ 3-0 win over Queen’s Park at Lennoxtown on Tuesday night.

The 20-year-old, who had to be carried from the pitch at Celtic’s training complex, explained he returned to Wales to use the state of the art facilities available at the English Premier League outfit.

But he hopes to receive positive news and be able to come back to Cappielow and resume playing for the Ton as soon as possible.

Speaking exclusively to the Tele yesterday, a gutted Samuel said: “I’m going back home tonight, going back to Swansea.

“There’s swelling in my left knee so I’m going to get a scan down in Swansea after the swelling goes down and assess it from there. Hopefully it isn’t too bad.

“I’m not sure exactly what happened. The goalkeeper said his hip hurt, so I don’t know if my knee smacked his hip or our knees smacked into each other.

“It all happened so fast, and to be fair I didn’t even see the keeper because of the angle the ball was coming at.

“I thought I was actually in the clear, relaxed and feeling I’d just knock the chance in, but then all of a sudden you get smashed.  

"The fact I wasn’t expecting it was the worst part – it’s a shock.

“It was absolutely terrible pain. I’ve never experienced pain like that before, so I knew it was bad and knew I couldn’t carry on. I couldn’t even move my leg and had shock as well because of the injury.

"The manager and one of the stewards carried me off. Luckily we were by facilities where it meant I could get treatment on it straight away, and that really helped.

“With going back home, it’s no disrespect to Morton but Swansea have the facilities and equipment to give me the best recovery. They’ll assess it and decide what the next steps will be. Will that be the end of my loan? No, I don’t expect so.

"I think I’ll be okay to come back. Hopefully it’s just bruising, but the swelling takes time to come down and that’s what I’ll need to wait on.

"I definitely want to come back. I obviously want to come back up and play as many games as I can for Morton.

“I’m just concentrating on getting back fit and on that pitch again and hopefully scoring a few more goals.”