Ross County winger Simon Power is doubtful for tomorrow’s friendly against French side Valenciennes due to a delay in his registration.
Irishman Power joined the Staggies on a season-long loan deal earlier this week, and joined the Dingwall men on their pre-season training camp in Holland – where he spent the latter part of last season on a temporary deal with second-tier side Dordrecht.
The 21-year-old was not part of the squad which was defeated 2-0 by Groningen in Assen last night, and Staggies co-manager Steven Ferguson concedes it is unlikely he will be cleared to feature in tomorrow’s match at County’s Doorwerth training base.
Ferguson said: “It is outwith our hands. Fiona MacBean, our secretary, is doing all she can but it is outwith her hands as well.
“His registration is still in Holland and we need that to go back to England, at Norwich, before it can come to Scotland.
“That’s a long process so it looks very unlikely he will play against Valenciennes on Sunday.
“But the whole point in bringing Simon over was to integrate him into the group.
“With Danny Armstrong going home, we felt it was a good chance to get him into the group as quickly as we could.
“Whether he plays games or not, we’ll still get some sort of benefit.”
Blair Spittal started last night’s match, and he feels he is among a generation of Scots inspired by the career revival of his former team-mate Andy Robertson.
After Spittal had been released by Rangers at the age of 14, the Erskine-born player joined up with Queen’s Park where he linked up with left back Robertson, who had suffered a similar setback with Celtic.
Robertson, who is Scotland skipper, recently won the Champions League with Liverpool to cap an extraordinary resurgence, via spells at Dundee United and Hull City.
Spittal, who joined the Staggies from Partick Thistle earlier this summer, says Robertson’s tale of glory can provide an uplift for any player on the receiving end of bad news.
Spittal said: “I think there are a lot of boys that have had setbacks.
“Andy’s story is a unique one, with what he went through when he was younger to where he is now. It’s brilliant to see what he has done now.
“There will be a lot of boys in Scottish football that will get setbacks. I dealt with getting released by Rangers myself, but I think it’s probably the best thing that can happen for a lot of younger players.
“Getting the exposure we got at Queen’s Park at such a young age definitely helped us.
“It maybe shows younger boys now that if they do get released off these bigger clubs, they can’t be too hard on themselves and they can pick themselves back up.
“I think we just had a really good group coming through at Queen’s Park at that age – luckily we all managed to catch the eyes of other clubs.”
