Dundee United will again be without key man Calum Butcher for tonight’s trip to Ayr.
Butcher, who is suffering from a groin injury, was absent from the midfield as the Tangerines lost 2-0 at Dunfermline on Saturday.
The bad news is that he will be sidelined once more when they head to Somerset Park this evening.
Manager Robbie Neilson admitted Butcher was missed as the Pars ran out deserved and comfortable winners.
Neilson confirmed: “He won’t make it but hopefully we will have him back for Saturday (at home to Partick Thistle).
“He has a groin problem and he has not trained.
“It is an injury from the end of last season and it has tightened up again.
“I thought we missed him against Dunfermline.
“We could have done with his physicality in the middle of the park.
“I thought we didn’t match them in the central area of the pitch but it’s a different game down at Ayr.
“Hopefully, we can win that battle because we have won most of them this season.”
Neilson is expected to make at least three changes to his East End Park starting line-up in a bid to add some spark to his team tonight.
He said: “No matter what the scoreline had been on Saturday, we would have made some changes anyway.
“I will be utilising the squad so that means a couple of changes.
“There won’t be wholesale changes, though, because the players have done well for us all season and it’s important that we don’t jump the gun.
“We have managed to bounce back before and we need to do it again.”
