'˜It was quite a nasty one' '“ Sheffield United forward reveals how he narrowly avoided serious injury whilst on loan at League Two club

The former Hartlepool winger joined United last pre-season, but struggled to force his way into Chris Wilder's first-team plans and joined County on loan in the summer.

His season was disrupted by the injury in a 3-2 defeat at Newport last month, when a stud punctured his foot.

'It was quite a nasty one,' he revealed in an interview with the Nottingham Post.

'I flicked a ball on in the middle of the pitch and took a stud.

'It went through my boot, through my sock and straight through the top of my foot and in between my two metatarsals.

'It was deep and took a few weeks to heal. I think it got kept out of the press a bit because there were bigger problems to worry about.

'I was fortunate really because if it was a couple of millimetres either way I would have snapped my metatarsal and been out for longer.

'On one hand I got quite lucky, but on the other, I still missed a few games.

'I was gutted about that but I am in a good headspace now."

Thomas' partner recently gave birth to their baby girl, Skyler, and Thomas added: 'It wasn't easy leading up to my missus having the baby and maybe my mind wasn't 100 percent on my football which is understandable.

'But now I feel I can concentrate solely on getting Notts County back up the league and challenging where we should be.

'In the last couple of games the lads have done really well and stopped the rot a little bit.

'Now it's time for us to start winning because draws are not going to get us where we want to be.'