Hayes went down in a considerable amount of pain after landing awkwardly after an innocuous challenge on the full back away against Nettleham in Long Eaton Utd's 2-1 League Cup victory on 29th November. After putting the Blues 1-0 up with a thunderous 25 yard drive she was later carried off and watched the remainder of the game from the stand.

After seeing a knee specialist last week, her MRI results confirmed that she has ruptured her ACL, torn her meniscus, torn her lateral collateral ligament and ruptured her inferior coronary ligament. She has also sprained her posterolateral ligament and has soft bone micro fractures on her tibia. Once in surgery they will also assess whether or not she has torn her meniscus as well.

Manager Charlotte Healy said "We're all absolutely gutted for Carly. It's a really horrendous injury and its come at the cruellest of times. She's such a huge part of the squad on and off the pitch and she will be greatly missed. I can't recall a game she hasn't started that she's been available for for probably the last decade which shows just how important she is to us! It's a huge blow but she will remain a very important part of our squad. Her surgery will hopefully be in February and then it'll be a long, gruelling 10 month recovery process for her but every member of our team will be looking forward to the day she's back on the pitch. Everybody at the club wishes her a speedy recovery and we look forward to having her back fit and available for her 17th season at the club next year ."