MICKEY Higham expects to shed a tear or two at 2.30pm on Saturday.

The Leigh-based hooker should have been part of the St Helens team preparing for the rugby league Powergen Challenge Cup final against Wigan.

Instead of proudly walking out alongside the likes of Keiron Cunningham, Paul Sculthorpe and Sean Long this weekend, Higham will be stuck up in the stands nursing a broken foot and thinking of what might have been.

A freak foot injury has robbed Higham of his big day, so he faces an afternoon on the sidelines at the Millennium Stadium.

As Cunningham's understudy, Higham would almost certainly have been brought off the bench by coach Ian Millward to make an impact -- but now all he can do is sit, watch and wait.

"I'm gutted, absolutely gutted," he said. "To be perfectly honest, it's not really sunk in that I'm not going to play at Cardiff. I'm sure it will hit hard when the teams come out for the national anthem.

"It's bad enough missing a big game like this through injury at the best of times, but when it was a freak accident that caused it, it's even harder to take."

Higham, whose early career was developed at Leigh East before signing professionally for Leigh Centurions, damaged his foot in the warm-up prior to Saints' semi-final win over Huddersfield.

He said: "We were out on the pitch before the game and I went over on my ankle.

"I didn't think much about it at the time but it gradually got worse. It got so bad that I had to tell Ian (Millward) that I couldn't play.

"That's why I was on the sub's bench for the entire game. It was too late to change the team.

"I went for an x-ray the following day and the doctors confirmed that I'd broken my foot and would need an operation. I was in hospital on the Tuesday having a pin inserted."

Just after signing for Saints, the 23-year-old had the heartbreak of being in the side beaten by Wigan at Murrayfield in the 2002 Challenge Cup final.

"I was only on the field for the last few minutes of that final, but I desperately wanted a winner's medal this year to take the place of the loser's medal," he added.

The injury will keep Higham out of action for three months -- and he is determined to make up for lost time. He said: "I'll be back for the closing stages of the league season and then the play-offs. I want to win the Super League Grand Final to make up for my disappointment."