Dundee United’s on-loan centre-half Curtis Good has returned to his parent club Newcastle for another scan.
The defender injured his hip playing for Australia in a friendly against Ecuador last month. He returned to training earlier this week with United but did not feel right and he has returned to England to be assessed further.
Manager Jackie McNamara said: “Curtis is still not right and has gone back down to Newcastle and has had a second scan just to check everything is OK. He will not be available for the weekend (against Motherwell).
“Gary Mackay-Steven has a problem with his calf so we will have to see how he is over the next 48 hours.”
United’s ambitions of catching Motherwell, and even second-placed Aberdeen, were dealt a huge blow when they slipped to defeat last week at McDiarmid.
The match against the Steelmen is now in the “must-win” category.
However, McNamara insisted that every game his team play has similar significance and he will not tolerate any slacking off with the cup final on the horizon.
He said: “It will be a tough game on Saturday. Motherwell did well to come back against Celtic last weekend. They have picked up a lot of points this season and have done really well.
“It will be a hard one for us. There will be no change in the way we approach it. Every game for us is a must-win one whether it is the start or the end of the season.
“The players have to put any thoughts about the cup final to one side and focus on the game at hand if they hope to be in that team on May 17.”