There are good selection headaches and bad selection headaches – and Ian Murray has had his fair share of the latter.
His latest is on the verge of a migraine, with just 12 outfield players available for Saturday’s trip to face Ayr United.
Rovers named just three outfield substitutes in last week’s defeat to Morton.
Tom Lang and Lewis Vaughan were ordered off late on, leaving Murray with just one outfield sub going into this weekend.
Murray labelled those decisions “harsh” and it now looks likely that 18-year-old Adam Masson will start the match at Somerset Park.
Learning lessons
The Rovers manager said lessons will be learned from this season.
“It’s really tough this week, there’s no other way around it,” Murray told Courier Sport.
“We haven’t had suspensions before, so we need to deal with that.
“I’d probably rather get the suspensions out the way this week and than wait another week.
“They’ll be back for our home game versus Partick Thistle.
“We’ll have to learn our lessons from this season, carrying such a light squad.
“Ultimately, at the end of the day, it comes down to finance – to carry bigger numbers, you need more money.
“Look at the top five, they have big squads, they can handle injuries.”
Crunch time
It’s coming to decision time for many players at Stark’s Park and Murray said that there had been some “positive” discussions.
One player under contract for next season is club captain Ross Matthews, who is on course to make his return for pre-season.
Last season’s summer signings Dylan Easton, Ross Millen and team captain Scott Brown are also signed up beyond the summer.
Murray said the contract situation of others should become clearer in the near future.
“We’ve had some good dialogue with some,” he said.
“We will need answers from these players in the next week to 10 days.
“We’ll get this weekend out the way, look forward to Friday but then after that it’s either resign or get an answer and move on.”
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