IPSWICH Town winger Lee Martin has today spoken about the freak golf accident that left him temporarily blind in one eye.

The 25-year-old – who is included in the squad which travels to Nottingham Forest tomorrow afternoon – had just served a three-match suspension and recovered from a bout of tonsillitis when he was dealt a fresh set-back in September.

“A stone flicked up from underneath the ball as I played my shot and caught my eye and cracked my (contact) lens,” he explained. “A few hours later I was totally blind in my right eye.”

Thankfully, following a 10-day rest, Martin’s sight returned and he was able to return to training. And having trained for a long spell without heading the ball, he returned to competitive action prior to the international break – impressing as a substitute in the 3-2 defeat to Doncaster.

“It was very serious at one stage and I was really worried,” he told the club’s official website.

“One of my mates is a doctor and he popped down to have a look at it for me and he was surprised at the rate of the swelling. He was worried because my eye had turned totally black, not just the pupil but the whole eye.

“That was when we hit the panic buttons and they took me to the hospital, who in turn sent me to a specialist. They did a thorough check to see if there was any damage to the nerves and the retina.

“It was a very worrying time but fortunately there is no lasting damage. My vision was still quite blurry for a while, which took me some time to get used to and even now it’s not properly dilated in my right eye.

“It was just one of those things but luckily I’ve managed to get over it.”

– For full match preview, see tomorrow’s EADT and Evening Star.