CONOR Pepper is out of hospital after the operation that he hopes will save his playing career.

Pepper suffered a serious knee injury against Hibernian at Easter Road last February and underwent surgery and rehabilitation, but broke down as he attempted a comeback in a development game back in December.

The 22-year-old exclusively told the Tele in March that he was to see a specialist down south who had performed similar procedures for other sports stars in the past.

And after his surgery on Wednesday, Pepper tweeted: “Been such a tough journey for me after the two ops over the last 14 months! Big challenge to come now, thank you everyone for your support!”

Morton boss Jim Duffy said: “Conor’s operation went as well as it could have. 

“Fingers crossed it’s going to be positive, but we won’t know that for a number of months. I think it’s about four months before he can even contemplate what level he’s at.

“That’s going to take a long time but from his point of view, the first stage is done. We’ll wait and see what happens from there.”

It is understood that the Irish midfielder will visit home in Ireland for the next few days before returning to Greenock to continue his coaching development with Morton as he recovers.