Lying in a heap on the turf of Wimbledon's Cherry Red Records Stadium with his aghast family gazing down at him, Ollie Tanner feared his season could be over before it had even really started.
Moments earlier, the Cardiff City winger let out a shriek as he collided with advertising hoardings separating himself from the 1,500 raucous fans crammed into the away end.
Among those stood his parents, who had made the journey across south London from home in Bromley to watch Tanner, then just establishing himself under new boss Brian Barry-Murphy, continue what had been an encouraging start to Cardiff's first League One campaign in 22 years.
They rushed to the front of the terraces hoping their son, hands covering his face, had suffered merely a knock - but with a stretcher en route and the match paused on the brink of half-time, Tanner knew his night was done.
Seven months on from the Tuesday evening that curtailed his season, the 23-year-old tells Daily Mail Sport: 'It was weird. My aunts, uncles, cousins, mum and dad were there.
'The advertising hoardings are so close to the fans at Wimbledon that while I was on the floor, they came over. My dad was basically standing over me and I told him straight away, "I've heard a bone crack". I knew it was serious but didn't know it would be so bad.'
A scan revealed that Tanner had suffered a fractured fibula and ligament damage which would require surgery. It marked the first serious injury of his career, and came at a time when both his own and the Bluebirds' fortunes seemed to be turning.
They lined up against the Wombles, four games into the season, unbeaten and in the promotion places. The mood in the Welsh capital was a far cry from that of a few months earlier, when City were consigned to a shock relegation with a 0-0 draw to West Brom on the penultimate day of the Championship season.
Tanner had been in and out of the team during a turbulent 2024-25 campaign, starting 15 games and being used as a substitute in 14. But the appointment of Barry-Murphy marked a new dawn for the Englishman, who was handed a starting berth in each of the club's four league games before his injury.
'When the gaffer came in, he made it clear he wanted me to be a big part of his plans,' Tanner says. 'That period out was really tough because I hadn't really experienced that before. The boys were flying and I was feeling so good before I went down.
'I had to get through it myself, it can be a lonely place. It just gave me more motivation to come back and have an effect on the team again.'
Four months and 17 matches passed before Tanner returned to the fold in time for a clash against Stevenage at the Cardiff City Stadium. A 2-1 win that December evening keeping table-toppers Cardiff two points clear of Bradford City.
Tanner was afforded seven minutes off the bench, then 23 against Wycombe and 17 versus Wigan before being swiftly thrust back into the XI at Leyton Orient in early January.
During the 15 consecutive starts which have followed, Tanner has established himself as one of the Football League's top talents. No player in England has more assists this year than the 10 he has racked up in 2026. Not even Bruno Fernandes, who is next in line on nine.
The right winger's form has taken Cardiff to the cusp of an instant return to the Championship. The Bluebirds are second and seven points clear of the play-offs. Tanner sits pretty as the division's second-best playmaker, despite making 12 fewer appearances than first-placed Reyes Cleary.
Yet the Cardiff man, who speaks with a discernible confidence, assures me that he's not yet reached his peak.
'Since I came to Cardiff, I hadn't had a prolonged run of games like I'm having now,' adds Tanner. 'So, for sure, I'm only getting better with minutes and I'm grateful to the manager for the faith he's put in me.
'I don't think there's been a better period in my career - but I'm not getting ahead of myself. I always want more and I'm nowhere near where I want to be yet.'
Tanner's career path is one which few have trodden. It was the summer of 2022 when he opted to sign for Cardiff - despite a bid from Tottenham Hotspur - following a spell at non-League side Lewes. Before that, he spent a season at Folkestone Invicta after leaving boyhood club Bromley.
He had excelled in the Isthmian League Premier Division with Lewes, but a leap of some six tiers up the pyramid that summer proved eye-opening.
Tanner didn't make a single league appearance during his maiden Championship campaign before he was sent out on loan to the National League in January. At York City, he was afforded just 266 minutes of football, which came as a blow for a player courted by a host of the country's biggest clubs mere months earlier.
'The move to Cardiff was maybe harder than I thought at first,' he recalls. 'I'd gone from playing non-League to being at a Championship club and in matchday squads with 30,000 people at the ground.
'It's completely different. You can imagine how that has an effect on you. The training difference, the quality of player, it definitely took time to adjust. The loan wasn't great but it gave me a lot of invaluable lessons which have helped me to this day. I wouldn't change those for anything.'
Having been welcomed back to the fold by new boss Erol Bulut in the summer of 2023, it was little more than a month before Tanner edged himself into Bluebirds folklore with a derby-day goal. His first in professional football, and one which is spoken about to this day in pubs across the Welsh capital.
Moments after being introduced with the score level, Tanner picked up the ball on the right, cut inside and unleashed an impeccably-struck curler that crashed into the bottom corner. Poetry in motion, and the Cardiff City Stadium erupted. Cardiff went on to win 2-0 - their first victory over fierce rivals Swansea in five attempts.
'My friends were in the stands that night,' remembers Tanner. 'It was surreal, to be honest. It was strange because the derby was 8pm on a Saturday. There were no excuses for anyone not to be there.
'The stadium was packed, the rain was falling - the stage was set. It was perfect.'
Tanner, however, has learned the hard way that football is as much about struggle as it is success.
Last season's relegation campaign - under three separate managers - saw the Bluebirds go down as the Championship's basement boys. It was a sad indictment of a squad boasting ex-Premier League stars Calum Chambers, Anwar El Ghazi and Aaron Ramsey. The latter, who announced his retirement this week, ended up in the dugout as interim manager when his boyhood club's fate was sealed.
But Tanner says the foundations of this season's success story were built in the doldrums of relegation. Namely a pact made by the squad to right their wrongdoings.
'At no point until it was actually confirmed did I think we were going to go down,' he admits. 'I thought we had more than enough to stay up.
'It was tough for everyone - the players, the fans and the coaches - it wasn't ideal at all. That's why I think a lot of the boys stayed this season. We owe something to the club, it's way too big to be in League One.
'Thank God a lot of us have stayed, because now we've got an opportunity to get the club back where it belongs.'
Six games of the League One season remain. Win three of those and the Bluebirds' status as a Championship club will be restored.
For months it looked as though City were destined for the title, but a recent blip of one win in six has seen them drift 12 points behind pace-setters Lincoln City.
Tanner says the methods of Barry-Murphy, who learned his trade in the school of Pep Guardiola with Manchester City Under 21s, have been 'like a breath of fresh air'. Now though, he insists it's up to the players to finish the job.
As the promotion deciders loom large, starting with a clash against high-flying Bolton Wanderers on Saturday, there are few signs of nervousness in the experienced Cardiff camp.
'No teams come into League One and absolutely storm it,' Tanner says. 'You're going to have a blip and, if it was easy, it wouldn't be fun. This is part of the journey. We're right on the brink of promotion now, so we need to get the job done.'