A GOALKEEPER paralysed after being attacked outside a bar has vowed to walk back onto the pitch with teammates for the last game of the season.

Billericay Town keeper Nicky Morgan, 26, hopes to be be back at the club’s New Lodge ground on April 28 to watch the final home game of the season against Lowestoft Town.

The 6ft 7ins-tall player was paralysed from the neck down after being assaulted outside the Sugar Hut nightclub, in Brentwood, on October 28 last year.

He has been undergoing rehabilitation at the specialist Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. and is now able to walk on crutches for about an hour a day. He has also walked a mile unaided on a treadmill.

Mr Morgan, who is due to leave hospital on May 30, said: “I’m really excited about seeing all the boys. It’s going to be a really good atmosphere and they are looking like they might win the league.

“I really hope I’ll be able to walk on the pitch and join in the celebrations if they win.

“It’s going to be a nice homecoming. Every day I’m getting more mobile and things are getting easier. I get tired quite quickly but that’s to be expected, because my muscles are not used to it.”

Ian Ansell, club secretary, said: “We’re certainly all delighted Nicky will be with us at the last game. He’s a real inspiration and I think the lads have had in him their minds while they’ve played this season.”

Billericay are in line for promotion to the Blue Square South League if they continue their winning streak.

Craig Edwards, team manager, said: “We’ve got a picture of him up in the dressing room and he is just a complete inspiration with all he’s gone through. We have always been a tight-knit club but this has brought us together.”

* A 33-year-old man from Sittingbourne, Kent, arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm in connection with the assault, is due to answer bail on April 10.