Bionic man Tyrone Mears is on course for an early return to match action after recovering sooner than expected from a career-threatening shin injury.

The full-back, who made his last appearance against Wigan in January, has had a metal rod bolted into his left leg (see picture below) to support a stress fracture of the shin that has been a problem for the past three years.

Now Tye is targeting a first team comeback for the last four matches of the Premier League campaign and told RamsWorld: "The fitness guys have got me back really quick. For the past three years I've tried to get through this injury and now I've had an operation that puts it to bed.

"I was able to run again only three weeks after the op, so hopefully I've retained some fitness and the gaffer also wanted me to build up my upper body strength, so I've been hammering the weights."

And Tye revealed he has been playing through the pain since first picking up the injury while at Preston. "I was told at that time to try and let the injury heal because there was a chance I wouldn't play again. I was out for eight months but the injury only healed to a certain point and that meant trying to play through it.

"The physios here told me there was an op I could have and hopefully now I've seen the back of it. The specialist I've been to see was really good and it has healed incredibly quickly."

Tye admits he started the current campaign hopeful he could play a full season free from injury. "It was looking quite good, but then the shin started to hurt and by Christmas I was no more than a spectator in the games - I couldn't do anything and that included pinging a ball or running.

"By the time I played in the Wigan home match I was an embarrassment really and wasn't helping my team mates. It felt like the shin was going to snap and that's when I decided enough was enough.

"Now hopefully I can finish the season strong and it's a clean slate for me and I go into next season really confident."

Tye points to the bolt beneath the skin that is holding a metal rod in place in his left shin

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