Lowestoft Town striker Jack Defty is sure he will be able to play again despite being ruled out for the rest of the season with a broken leg.

The 32-year-old sustained the injury in April this year after an innocuous looking challenge with Bury Town skipper Tom Bullard. However, subsequent scans showed Defty had broken his tibia requiring surgery.

The healing process has gone to plan but, after visiting a specialist earlier this week, Defty was advised to miss the rest of the campaign.

'I had my X-ray on Wednesday and although he said it was healing well the specialist said that if I come back and put the bone out of line then you are talking years to recover,' said Defty, who enjoyed such a fruitful campaign with the Trawlerboys last season, notching 21 goals.

'I don't want to be walking with a limp for the rest of my life so it's the most sensible thing to do.

'I'm still very confident that I will be able to play again – it's important to take your time though and make sure you eliminate as much of the risk as possible really.'

Defty initially hoped to be back in action before the end of this year but realises now that was probably an over optimistic aim.

'It has been a disappointing few months and it really feels like it has been a long time already,' he said. 'But I've been doing a bit of research on it and for most people it takes about 11 months to make a full recovery.

'To wait a few more months really isn't long in the grand scheme of things.'

Lowestoft have sorely missed the forward, who was brought to the club in the summer of 2012 after being released by King's Lynn Town.

Defty became a mainstay of the club's promotion effort last season, which was ended in heartbreaking fashion as they lost out to Concord Rangers in the play-off final.

Lowestoft have struggled to replace his goals so far this season although the signing of Jake Reed after he was released by Dagenham & Redbridge looks to have gone some way to filling the void left by Defty.

The Blues will be looking to get back to winning ways this afternoon at Lewes after a disappointing 2-0 defeat to lowly Cray Wanderers last weekend.

'I think they will be all right,' said Defty. 'We've been quite similar to last season in the respect that we beat the bigger teams and struggle against the teams we should beat.

'I suppose it must be a mental thing in terms of how we have approached the games but they will put it right.'

Lowestoft hope to have their front line strengthened by the return of Chris Henderson this afternoon with the former Bury man suffering from a thigh injury for the past month.