Dundee defender Julen Etxabeguren will discover today whether or not he needs eye surgery.
The 24-year-old Spaniard was injured in a freak accident during Saturday’s match against Motherwell, when an opposition player’s thumb penetrated his eye socket.
He was taken off the park suffering from blurred vision and then attended Ninewells Hospital for treatment and damage assessment on Tuesday.
The results of the medical examination will be delivered to him today and everyone at Dens will be hoping he can avoid an operation.
Even if there is encouraging news for him, Etxabeguren will still miss the team’s busy festive programme.
Dark Blues manager Paul Hartley certainly has his fingers crossed for his central defender.
Hartley said: “The results will tell us if Julen does need an operation or not but he’s going to be out for the next few weeks anyway.
“Hopefully, it’s not too serious.
“He is going to back to the hospital on Friday to see the specialist.
“He has already been but he is having to see the specialist again.
“It was just a freak accident.
“He has been caught but, touch wood, he will be OK.
“Julen had a few knocks this season – bumps and bruises – so this kind of sums up his season so far.”
Meanwhile, with star man Greg Stewart being linked to Brighton and Hove Albion this week to add to Rangers from the previous week, Hartley is backing his frontman to ignore the transfer talk.
The Dens boss said: “I think you’ve got to ignore the speculation.
“Greg just has to focus on his game and he has done that.
“He is happy here and we know what type of player we’ve got.
“Some of his play is terrific.
“I don’t see it as him as having a dip in form.
“People look at him at having to score every week but that’s not the case.
“Some of his overall play is excellent and we know when he gets the ball that something can always happen.”
Stewart will be a key man against Accies tomorrow and Hartley is looking for him and his teammates to get a victory that will end their eight-match winless run.
Hartley added: “There were some positives to be taken from the second-half performance at Motherwell last week.
“However, we understand we need to get back to winning games of football.
“It is a must and we have had a good chat with the players.
“We have to make sure we are ready for the Hamilton game.”