KEVIN KYLE admitted he is suffering the most frustrating time of his short footballing career.

The 23-year-old striker was rocked three months ago when he broke down in training and had to undergo a hip operation.

Kyle sustained the injury in July, but despite missing almost all of Sunderland's pre-season training programme, he still managed to battle through the pain barrier and play in the opening seven games.

The Scottish international was expected to be back in action for the Black Cats over the festive period. But the latest setback to his rehabilitation programme means he will not be available until mid-to-late January.

"The 12 weeks are up from when I had the operation, and I was supposed to be back training or playing, but I'm still getting quite a lot of pain in my hip," said the Stirling-born striker.

"It can't be anything serious because I have all the main movements, but there is something catching. It is fine when I'm doing a lot of straight line running but as soon as I started twisting and turning I felt some pain.

"The physio has had a look at it and I'm booked in to see the specialist on December 23. Hopefully he'll find out what the problem is, or cause, and he may give me an injection in my hip.

"It has been a setback because 12 weeks is long enough and it is very frustrating.

"It's also the frustration of not knowing what's wrong. I go to all the home games and people are asking me when I'm coming back, and I just don't know.

"The team is doing so well and I would love to be a part of it."

Kyle revealed his spell on the sidelines is all the more frustrating given he had established himself as the club's number one striker last season after standing in the shadows of Niall Quinn and Kevin Phillips for so long.

"When I was scoring for the reserves and not getting in the first team, I was still young, and we were in the Premiership then. I didn't expect to get ahead of Kevin Phillips or Niall Quinn," said Kyle, whose last appearance came in the 1-0 defeat at Reading.

"Last season I kind of established myself, and this season I wanted to get going again. Not being able to do that is hard because I have never been injured like this before.

"I have had a couple of knocks which have kept me out for a couple of days and that is about it, but this is a major blow.

"I tried to get through the first seven games of the season, but it was hard, and I had to tell the gaffer I couldn't go on any more.

"When I come back it's going to be hard to get back in the team. Had I come back at Christmas I might have had a better chance given the amount of games there are."

The inury is not thought to be career-threatening, and the fact both Roy Keane and Freddie Ljungberg have made full recoveries from similar problems has eased the big man's worst fears.

"Gary Breen told me Roy Keane had asked how I was because he had exactly the same injury - he was out for six months.

"It obviously gives me a bit of relief. Freddie Ljungberg was also out for four months with the same thing, so it might take another two or three weeks to heal."

Kyle is desperate to play a part in securing promotion after the heartache of missing out in the play-offs to Crystal Palace last time around.

Kyle quipped: "I need to get as many games in as possible so I can get a medal. I don't want to go empty-handed this season.

"We are in a much better position than this time last year, and I think we have a far better squad.

"We can drop one player and bring another one in who has equal quality. We have the benefit of a big squad where other teams don't and that is important at this time of year.

"All the lads have been fantastic, including the boys who have been coming on. I'm just frustrated because I played 44 games last season and this season I have played seven. I hope we get promoted."