Ex-Portsmouth, Aberdeen and Rangers man back after hellish six months amid nightmare start at Bristol City

A former Pompey player has returned to action after six months out with a serious bacterial infection.

The unfortunate Ross McCrorie has still to feature in competitive action for Bristol City following a £2m move from Aberdeen in June.

The versatile performer was struck down by the infection during pre-season, subsequently undergoing surgery to resolve the issue.

It has represented a nightmare start to life at Ashton Gate for the 25-year-old, who spent a season-long loan at Fratton Park in 2019-20.

However, on Tuesday, McCrorie made a long-awaited comeback against Bournemouth Under-21s in the Professional Development League.

He featured for 60 minutes at right-back in the High Performance Centre clash as the visiting Cherries triumphed 1-0, with Daniel Adu-Addei’s winner arriving 10 minutes from time.

The run out now puts the former Scotland under-21 international in contention for first-team involvement with Liam Manning’s first-team, who are presently positioned 11th in the Championship.

During his time at Pompey, McCrorie made 23 appearances on loan from Rangers in a campaign which would again finish in League One play-off disappointment.

Kenny Jackett appeared to have pulled off something of a coup to land the highly-regarded Scot in July 2019, during a summer which also brought the arrivals of John Marquis, Ellis Harrison and Marcus Harness.

However, the youngster’s time on the south coast was largely hampered by a recurring hamstring injury as he struggled to establish himself as a regular starter for the Blues.

McCrorie was sent off on his debut in a 1-1 draw at Shrewsbury in August 2019, while was later converted from a central midfielder to fill a problematic right-back slot.

Unfortunately for the Rangers man, when he did enjoy a run in the side, with four starts in seven games, Covid curtailed the League One season in March 2020.

Upon Pompey’s return for the play-off semi-finals against Oxford United, McCrorie started the first leg, which ended in a 1-1 draw, but was dropped for James Bolton for the decisive second leg.

After returning to Rangers, he joined Aberdeen permanently in August 2020, making 115 appearances in three seasons, before moving to Bristol City last summer.