Montrose have reluctantly agreed to part company with Lloyd Young.
Work commitments have meant the midfielder has not featured for the Links Park club for several months, and the situation is not likely to change any time soon.
Stuart Garden has, therefore, faced up to the fact he will have to do without him.
He said: “Lloyd’s got the offer of more work, which means I don’t think he’s coming back.
“It’s a major blow because he’s been a good player for us. He gave us something different.
“We had him up until the end of September and even in that short time he’s scored a few for us. But we’ve got Jamie Reid on loan from Dundee just now in Lloyd’s position and hopefully we might be able to extend that.”
Stephen McNally will miss the clash with Annan and their following match as he is offshore. Jonny Crawford and Colin Wilson are also out, both with hamstring injuries.
The Montrose match is the only Boxing Day fixture in League Two.
Garden revealed their opponents wanted it rearranged but did not see the logic in passing up what should be a bigger gate than usual.
He said: “Footballers want to play on Boxing Day and I think fans want to see a match. We’ll have two games in quick succession but the players will cope with that fine. It only happens once a year.
“The chairman left it up to me, and Annan wanted it rearranged but I thought it was better to play. It’s the only game in Angus so even if we get 100 or so more than usual it will be worth it.”
Garden has not been satisfied with his team’s home form.
“We’ve struggled more at home than away,” he said.
“At times I think we’ve been trying to force things and make them happen too quickly.
“Two of our next three games are at home and we want to take advantage of that. We lost at Annan early on, and they’ve had a good season since. But we know we’re capable of beating them.”