St Johnstone defender Sam McClelland is unlikely to play again this year.
The centre-half sustained a severe ankle sprain on duty with Northern Ireland under-21s and his lay-off could be as long as three months.
When you add the winter shutdown onto that, manager Steven MacLean doesn’t expect to have McClelland available until the season resumes near the end of January.
“Sam will probably be out for eight to 12 weeks,” the Perth boss revealed.
“It’s not great for him and us.
“These sort of things can happen on the training ground.
“I spoke to Tommy (Wright) but it’s nobody’s fault – it could have happened anywhere.
“He’s hobbling about in a boot.
“If he gets back before the break he’ll be doing well.
“It’s looking more likely it will be after it.
“He’d have to get back into training before he’s ready for a game.
“Sam’s a young man who is improving. He’s done well at times and there have been a couple of occasions when he knows he could have done a bit better.
“That’s the same for the team – he’s been a bit unfortunate to find himself out of the side recently.
“It’s disappointing but it’s now up to someone else to step up.”
Ankle injuries have become a McDiarmid Park theme of late, with Dan Phillips and Dare Olufunwa both unlikely to feature against Motherwell this weekend as a result of them.
“This weekend will likely be too soon for Dan,” said MacLean.
“Dare’s was an impact injury. He’s not trained fully and we’re hoping he’ll be available for St Mirren too.
“James Brown and Ryan McGowan are both fit.”
Opportunity knocks
MacLean knows the importance of putting their first Premiership win on the board.
“I don’t want to keep going on about it but officials didn’t help us in our last home game,” he said. “We should have won that one (against Livingston).
“But it’s gone now and it’s important we beat Motherwell.
“If you look at our fixtures coming up, they’re games we can win. But they’re also games that if you don’t perform you’ll lose. It will be fine margins.
“There’s not a lot between the teams.
“We’ve got to look to pick up wins in this run of fixtures.
“Personally, I have targets in my mind. It’s not something I tell the players but I have an idea of where we need to be. I keep that between me and my staff.”
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