Dundee boss Neil McCann has revealed Mark O’Hara’s season is over after he suffered a horror injury during Saturday’s vital victory over Hamilton on Saturday.
The 22-year-old midfielder lost his two front teeth in an accidental collision with Accies’ Danny Redmond early in the first half.
O’Hara bravely played on but finally had to be withdrawn at the interval as he was still feeling groggy.
McCann is now resigned to being without the key player again for tonight’s trip to Dingwall to face Ross County along with the final fixture of the season with Partick at Dens on Saturday.
The manager said last night: “Mark has not been great since the weekend and I am just away to phone him to see how he is doing.
“He was due to visit the dentist today just to try to get some work done.
“It is a horrible injury and there are a lot of guys who would have come off with that.
“The only reason we took him off was because he was feeling a bit light headed.
“But what a performance to get to half-time.
“It was quite brutal inside his mouth as his teeth had been ripped out.
“They found them thankfully and managed to get both of them back in.
“I am not sure what work he needs done but he is not going to involved in the next two games.”
The Accies match was certainly not for the faint hearted with challenges flying in thick and fast.
That has left McCann’s squad nursing a variety of bumps and bruises although there are more serious concerns over Steven Caulker as well as Sofien Moussa and Genseric Kusunga who both missed the Saturday’s game.
McCann said: “Gensy trained a bit today but Moussa and Caulks are struggling.
“So we have a number of boys with injuries.
“We had boys going into the Hamilton game who were also struggling.
“They played through a lot of pain and then during the match itself, some of the challenges going in were pretty physical.
“So we have a lot of bumps and bruises – a lot of the guys are not 100%.
“I felt that everybody wearing a Dundee shirt on Saturday absolutely emptied themselves.
“There was a lot of appreciation from the fans at the endeavour the boys put in – they gave everything.”
The victory over Hamilton took Dundee six points clear of Partick in the relegation play-off spot and eight ahead of rock bottom Staggies.
The Dark Blues also have a better goal difference than the Jags but McCann was keen to repeat his message from the weekend that there is still work to be completed before his side’s safety is mathematically assured.
He said: “I have just had a chat with the boys there and reinforced the message that our business isn’t done.
“As far as I am concerned, nothing has been settled yet other than we won’t be automatically relegated.
“But the play-off spot should not be taken for granted.
“We are going up to Dingwall where we got a great result the last time we were there and we will look to do the same again.
“You have to respect where Ross County are. I expect a lot of fight from them and they will come out absolutely firing.
“I have told our boys to be ready for that.
“We know the threats Ross County possess and we know how to get at them.
“If anybody is thinking Dundee are going up to the Highlands to have themselves a wee party and turn the engines down, they are mistaken.
“I can assure the fans that will not be the case. We are going up there knowing what we need to do and what’s needed.”
