Express & Star

From the archive - agony for Gyepes

This was the moment a promising Wolves career was devastatingly cut short.

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Many players have seen injuries wreck their spells at Molineux, with Matt Murray, Neil Masters and Tony Daley just three who spent more time on the treatment table than the pitch.

And Hungarian defender Gabor Gyepes was added to that list after suffering a cruciate ligament rupture against Sheffield Wednesday in March 2006.

The cruel blow happened in the closing stages of a 3-1 defeat at Molineux, when Gyepes slid awkwardly right in front of the South Bank.

After lengthy treatment he was stretched off - and Gyepes never played for Wolves again.

He had up that point enjoyed a good start to life at Wolves, making 24 appearances at centre half after being signed by Glenn Hoddle.

Gyepes initially joined on loan from Ferencvaros in July 2005 and impressed enough to earn a £300,000 permanent move a few months later.

Aged 24 at the time, Gyepes sought advice from fellow Hungarian Zoltan Gera before moving to England.

He said when joining: "Everybody has been very friendly to me and the team looks very strong and plays good football.

"I think the future is good here and I hope to stay with Wolves for a long time."

And when making the loan move a permanent one happy boss Hoddle said: "He's one we have got to look out for now, that's for sure.

"I think he's done very, very well and I think that we may have got ourselves a little bit of a 'find' with Gabor."

But just two months later his Wolves career lay in ruins.

A painstaking 11-month rehabilitation followed and Gyepes did return to play 23 minutes in a reserve game against Hereford.

"Those first few weeks were the worst because I could not sleep, I could not walk and a lot of my normal life became difficult," Gyepes said after his comeback.

"Now that I have played for 23 minutes I can see that I am getting nearer to returning to the first team."

But a series of setbacks that first team dream was never realised and Gyepes was released in April 2007.

He went on to play for Northampton, Cardiff and Portsmouth and most recently Malaysian side Sarawak.

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