Dundee United assistant boss Simon Donnelly has revealed that Mario Bilate’s hamstring injury is not as bad as first feared.
The Dutch striker had to be substituted at half-time during Sunday’s game at Tannadice with Aberdeen.
The 24-year-old was plagued by similar injuries last season and he will now miss Saturday’s game at Motherwell and is a doubt for the derby next Tuesday.
However, Donnelly is hoping that Bilate came off against the Dons before he suffered any lasting damage and that he will be back sooner rather than later.
He said: “Mario’s not as bad as we first feared when he limped off at half-time.
“It was more of a precaution with the history and the nature of injuries he’s had in the past.
“It was important we checked it out straight away. He was actually feeling a wee bit better today.
“I think the weekend will obviously be a bit early for him so he will be out for that but we’ll just see how he is in terms of next Tuesday’s derby match.”
Donnelly added: “He was plagued with it last year so he’s worked really hard over the close season.
“He looked good in pre-season.
“So it’s frustrating for him and for us also that he felt it just a couple of minutes before half-time against Aberdeen.
“But hopefully this time we’ve caught it early enough.
“It’s better not taking any risks so that’s why the gaffer made the decision at half-time to change it.
“He could have gone back out there after half-time and made it worse so it was right to take him off.”
Bilate was replaced by new signing Darko Bodul against Aberdeen and Donnelly admitted that the former Ajax player could come in against Motherwell.
He said: “Darko is getting stronger every day. He will benefit from another week’s training,
“So he will definitely be in our thoughts for the weekend.
“There were plenty of positives to take from Sunday and it was just frustrating the way the goal went as well after we’d had that chance to go ahead just before the break.”