Jamie Gullan is likely to miss the remainder of the season as the Raith Rovers striker prepares to go under the knife.
The 23-year-old – who is under contract until 2024 – has been in and out of the side with injury this season and will next week have an operation to fix an issue around his groin.
The injury is similar to that suffered by Ethan Ross who recently made his return.
There was better news for Ian Murray as he confirmed that Ross Millen, Aidan Connolly and Connor McBride all returned to training after missing the 6-1 victory over Cove Rangers on Saturday.
All are fighting to be available for Sunday’s SPFL Trust Trophy final versus Hamilton Accies at the Falkirk Stadium and the Rovers boss was further boosted by Kieran Ngwenya’s early return from international duty.
However, William Akio will miss out after being called up to the South Sudan national team and Scott McGill and Greig Young are cup-tied.
Hammer blow
“Hammer probably won’t play again this season,” said the Rovers manager.
“He had a consultation last week and he needs an operation, the same as Ethan Ross’ operation.
“His recovery time is probably four or five weeks but his operation is not until next week, I think.
“So, you’re talking five or six weeks and the season is done. It’s probably more important Jamie gets a good pre-season under his belt.
“I really like working with him as well, I think he’s got a fantastic opportunity to improve next season.
“We had to get to the bottom of it, which we think we have and hope we have, and that gives us an opportunity to fix him.
“We’re probably in better nick than we thought we would be because Kieran Ngwenya has returned early from his camp and he was meant to be away.
“Conor McBride, Aidan Connolly and Ross Millen are back in training – and we didn’t expect Ross to be back at all and he’s looking good.
“We’re actually in decent shape, we’re going into the final with the strongest squad we’ve had in a while.”
Plan to preserve energy
Murray said his preparations were no different from any other week other than and extra day and trying to curb the players’ excitement.
He revealed his squad will also have a bit of a team-building session ahead of Sunday’s final.
“It’s about filling that void for the players because they’ll be excited and we don’t want them wasting that energy,” said the Rovers boss.
“We’ve come here [to the Falkirk Stadium] to train and it’s good to get a look at the pitch, even though a lot of players have played here before.
“It’s better to come here beforehand rather than walk in blind.
How barebones Raith Rovers preserved astonishing SPFL Trust Trophy record to reach ANOTHER final https://t.co/EtZok7WSYr pic.twitter.com/eJhZOnM4lM
— The Courier Sport (@thecouriersport) March 22, 2023
“The players are meeting after training [on Wednesday] to have some food – which is great because that builds camaraderie.”
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