Hady Ghandour is pain-free for the first time in months and ready to kickstart his season at Maidstone.

Ghandour, 22, is back after an operation to fix a long-standing groin problem that goes back to the end of the Stones’ National South title-winning campaign.

The forward was on loan from Charlton at the time, signing a permanent deal over the summer following his release by the League 1 club.

He enjoyed a strong pre-season at the Gallagher, despite his groin injury, but finally admitted defeat when the pain became too much after Maidstone’s 5-0 defeat at Wrexham in August.

After a period of rest, he attempted a comeback at Barnet at the start of October but the injury didn’t go away and, ultimately, he required surgery.

“I feel good,” said the Lebanon international, who made his comeback as a late substitute against Altrincham last weekend.

“I had my op six weeks ago. It’s been quite a long one because I felt the injury six or seven months ago.

“I was playing through the pain towards the end of last season.

“Pre-season came, I still felt it, and it became a bit too much.

“After the Wrexham game I was in hospital and it took a month-and-a-half to diagnose me because I had a lot going on in the groin area.

“They finally found out what I had, which was kind of complicated, but it was a routine procedure and I was back training three or four weeks after the op.

“As an athlete, you play through pain but progressively it got worse and worse and I couldn’t do it in the end.

"I tried coming back at Barnet but I still felt it and then we had a friendly against Welling where I played 80 minutes and came off in pain.

“Smudge (Paul Smith, physio) said it might be Gilmore’s groin, and it was.

“Hats off to Smudge. He helped me a lot. He got to the bottom of it and I got my surgery done and now hopefully I can kick on.

“He’s top-class, Smudge, one of the best in the game. I had him at Charlton and he knows his stuff.”

It was a frustrating time for Ghandour, who was desperate to hit the ground running after dropping out of the Football League.

It hasn’t been plain sailing since his return, taking one on the chin after a mistake at Dorking on Tuesday night led to a goal as the hosts fought back to win 3-2 in added time.

But he’ll learn from that and is just glad to be back.

Ghandour, speaking before the Dorking game, said: “It was very annoying being out because I had a good pre-season but I was still in pain.

“The thought process behind me stepping out was if I’m doing so well and I’m in pain, let’s sit out and let this pain settle and then come back.

“Unfortunately, it never settled but then we finally got to the bottom of it.

“I still have a bit of soreness, which is normal after the op, but hopefully I’m getting up to speed, and I can start scoring goals.”