Ross County defender Jay McEveley has been ruled out for the rest of the season due to a knee injury.
McEveley has only made eight appearances since the turn of the year having not played since he hobbled off towards the end of last month’s 2-1 victory against Dundee.
Staggies manager Jim McIntyre confirmed the former Scotland international requires an operation that will keep him out for County’s remaining four games.
McIntyre says Ian McShane and Paul Quinn are making good progress following respective groin and hamstring injuries, while long-term absentee Chris Burke is making slow strides towards a recovery from a viral infection that has kept him out since November.
McIntyre said: “Jay is out for the rest of the season because he needs a minor tidy up on his knee.
“Ian McShane and Paul Quinn are back training but not ready for a game, while Chris Burke is doing very light training.
“He won’t play again this season, it has been a frustrating time for him but he’s doing little bits with the physio.”
County take on Motherwell at Fir Park tomorrow when they are aiming to carry on their momentum from last Friday’s 4-0 Highland derby victory against Caley Thistle.
The Dingwall men are four points clear of the Steelmen, who occupy the relegation play-off position, but McIntyre knows County are not yet clear of danger.
He added: “We just need to look at how close the points are to see we’re not out of it yet.
“A result either way brings a team right back into it, so we’re well aware of what we have to do.
“We need more wins on board and if we don’t get them we could easily find ourselves back in it.
“We’ve had a very good week after winning the derby last Friday night.
“The lads got the weekend off after winning but were back in on Monday working hard.
“Confidence is always high after you get a result like we had but equally we know we’re going into a game that is really tough.
“We had a good boost on Friday but that’s gone now, it’s about the next game and we have to keep the unbeaten run we’re on going.
“That’s four matches now and we want to stretch that out even further.”
