LYDNEY captain Sam Arnott is hoping for a ’complete reversal’ of 2016 for the new year after missing 11 months of rugby due to injury.

Arnott sustained a serious injury to his knee, damaging his ligaments in the now infamous 15-15 draw against Barnstaple last February at Regentsholme.

But the Severnsiders skipper returned to action before the festive break and featured in Lydney’s 9-8 win over Old Redcliffians on Saturday as a replacement.

It’s been a very long road,” he said.

“I got the all clear from surgeon and I’m itching to get back into it, but I’ve got to earn my place as normal.

“It’s been difficult but I’m lucky in a way because I’ve still been involved with the coaching side of things.

“It’s been a nightmare not playing for so long and it’s tough to get over mentally. It’s an injury not everyone comes back from so I’m chomping at the bit.”

Lydney’s inauspicious first half of the season completed a miserable 2016. After Arnott’s injury and that draw against the National Three South West eventual runners-up, an unprecedented decline began.

The Regentsholme club faded out of the promotion picture and have sunk to the bottom four of National Three South West after losing four of their six home games before Saturday.

“We’re hoping for a complete reversal of 2016,” Arnott added.

“It was a bit of a disaster to be honest, especially considering we were top of the table in February and just missed out on promotion.

“It’s not acceptable that we’re fourth from bottom in the league and we’re only 10 points off the bottom three.

“There are a few things we have to set right; our home form has been atrocious and if we don’t fix that we’ll be in big trouble.

“We’ve gone from hoping for promotion to fighting for survival. So we need to pick up wins in January to get going again and just blast what’s left of the season.

“We’ve had a few lads come back after Christmas from injury. Kurt Brown and Paul Scott are available again and we’ve signed Louis Overthrow from Berry Hill.

“We’ve missed them through December and Louis is a very versatile forward which is always good to have.”