DENNY Johnstone has revealed that he won’t require further surgery as he continues his recovery from a long-term knee injury. 

The striker has been troubled with a long-term knee problem, suffered last April when he was on loan at St Johnstone.

He had an operation on it shortly afterwards, and made a comeback for Morton in August.

Johnstone managed to play four games before the same injury reoccurred in training in September.

Over the last four months the 24-year-old has tried to come back several times to full training, but has broken down after triggering the injury.

However, the Ton forward was relieved to be given the positive news from a specialist that he won’t need to go under the knife again.

Johnstone doesn’t want to put a timeframe on a possible return and says he will focus on strengthening his knee before playing again.

He told the Tele: “I’ve started seeing a specialist and he said there’s no need for any further surgery from what I had last year.

“He believes it’s in good shape and I just need to spend a bit of time to let it recover and build up my strength, so that was a positive.

“That was a niggling worry of mine that there was something that was irritating my knee and needing to go in for another operation but that’s been cleared up now, and it’s just a case of me taking my time and letting the injury settle.

“We’re just seeing how it goes at the moment, we’re looking to see when the strength comes back in it rather than giving a set date.

“I’ve just been trying to strengthen the knee and the muscles surrounding the knee in the gym.

“I’m still doing my sessions on the bike still so hopefully when I am fit I’m not too far behind everyone.”

The forward admits that each time the injury has cropped up again it has been mentally tough.

Johnstone was open about his time out injured, saying he misses the day-to-day runouts at Parklea. 

But the ex-Colchester United forward has tried to stay as positive as he can.

He said: “It’s been horrible. Every day you want to be training, I’m a player who enjoys training every day and I love going in every week with the players.

“When you can’t do that it’s horrible, it affects your mood over the long term which is a shame for everyone around about you as you’re just kicking yourself and you’re down because you want to be fit. This season has been the worst in terms of games I’ve missed. I’m trying to stay positive.

“It’s been a case of me being desperate to come back, I’ve probably been trying to train before I’ve been ready.

“It’s been a difficult period and I’ve tried to come back a couple of times into training and got setbacks. Three or four times over the last couple of months I’ve come back into training and one time I managed three training sessions in a row before it broke down.

“It’s hard to stomach at the time, you go back to square one again every time after it going positively for a short spell — that’s been the hardest part.”

Johnstone says he can’t wait to get a runout on the pitch and start scoring goals again, after getting a taste for competitive action briefly earlier this season.

He said: “It was brilliant to be back involved in training and the couple of games that I was involved in. I loved the Dundee United game at Tannadice before I broke down, it was a really enjoyable game to play in. 

“When I got a few games I did really enjoy it, and I was ready to kick on and start scoring a few goals.

“I need to remind myself I’m only 24 as well, there’s still time for me to come back this season, further my career and have a bit of success.”