Caley Thistle defender Carl Tremarco is close to returning from a hamstring injury but may not be risked for Sunday’s IRN-BRU Cup semi-final against Crusaders.
Tremarco has been sidelined since suffering the injury in a 4-1 home triumph over Falkirk on January 9, with Robertson fearing the Englishman could have faced an absence of up to two months.
Robertson will be boosted by a speedier return by the left back, but with a busy run of matches coming up in Caley Jags’ push to reach the Championship play-offs he is wary of rushing Tremarco back too quickly.
Robertson said: “Carl is getting there but it may come too early for him.
“There’s a possibility Carl could be fit for Sunday, but with five games in 14 days coming up after it, our viewpoint is we may or may not risk him.
“We’ve got to look at the longer-term aspect because as much as it’s an important game on Sunday that we want to win, we’ve also got to look at the bigger picture.
“After this we will still have 13 league matches to go in the space of around 10 weeks.
“Every person in the squad will be required and we are certainly not going to take any undue risks at this moment in time.”
One player who will not feature against the Northern Irish outfit this weekend is attacker Nathan Austin who is cup-tied due to his previous involvement in the competition with Falkirk.
Like Tremarco, Austin has been sidelined with a hamstring injury in recent weeks but Robertson has hinted he could feature in the next league game at home to Morton on Saturday, February 24.
He added: “Nathan did the same, he tweaked his hamstring after 10 minutes at St Mirren.
“Carl’s was a little more serious than Nathan’s, but what we’ve done deliberately with Nathan is not pushed him. With this game coming up, and he’s cup-tied anyway, we’ve used the extra week to make sure we’ve built him up.
“Hopefully he’s raring to go for selection for the Morton game.”
