Newcastle United youngster receives major boost after three-month injury nightmare

Hamilton beat Raith Rovers 1-0 at the Falkirk Community Stadium thanks to Reghan Tumilty’s first-half strike. Daniel O’Reilly was sent off for Hamilton in the 55th minute as De Bolle – who is on loan from Newcastle until the end of the season – played the full 90 minutes of the match.

Dylan Stephenson was also part of the Hamilton squad but was an unused substitute in the final. Despite Hamilton sitting bottom of the Scottish Championship and 13 points below Raith in the table, they were able to claim Scottish football’s tertiary knockout competition for the third time in their history.

Sunday’s win marks an impressive turnaround in fortunes for De Bolle, who had to endure a difficult few months of his loan spell at Hamilton due to injury. The 20-year-old joined the Scottish Championship side on transfer deadline day while still recovering from a concussion picked up during a Newcastle Under-21s match.

De Bolle made his Hamilton debut against Queen’s Park back in September but had to wait until December to play again after suffering from recurring concussion symptoms.

The young attacking-midfielder was experiencing blurred vision and wasn’t able to train consistently with the Hamilton squad so returned to Newcastle to work in his rehab while also seeking specialist help in London.

But since returning to action, De Bolle has hardly looked back as he now has 14 starts and two substitute appearances in all competitions for Hamilton this season, scoring his first professional goal in a 3-0 win at Inverness Caledonian Thistle last month.

In January, Newcastle forward Stephenson joined De Bolle on loan at Hamilton until the end of the season. But the forward has been in and out of the starting line-up since scoring on his debut against Partick Thistle with four starts and four substitute appearances in all competitions.

Both players are yet to make their competitive debuts for Newcastle though Stephenson did score for the first-team in the 5-0 win over Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia back in December.