Ross County manager Malky Mackay says defender Alex Iacovitti will be monitored in the coming days after suffering a hamstring strain.
Iacovitti pulled up with the injury during the first half of Wednesday’s 0-0 draw with St Mirren, and was immediately replaced by Keith Watson.
The 24-year-old has been a regular at the heart of the Staggies defence, starting all but one match since Mackay took charge in the summer.
Although the injury leaves him highly doubtful for Saturday’s trip to St Johnstone, Mackay says it is too early to put a firm timescale on the former Scotland under-21 international’s absence.
Mackay said: “It looks like a hamstring strain, but it’s too early to say whether it’s two weeks or six weeks, or however long.
“We will assess that. He has been terrific for me. It’s just one of those things, he was powering back at a rate of knots to try and get back to the ball, and it went.
“We have not had many muscle injuries this year which is great testament to the physios and sports scientists. We will just need to deal with this one.”
Mackay has squad depth to pick from
Along with the option of bringing club captain Watson into the starting line-up, Mackay also has on-loan Arsenal defender Harry Clarke available again following suspension.
Mackay is pleased with the depth available to him, adding: “I have told them it’s a full group that has to show every day they train, they train well.
“There was a group training on Thursday who didn’t play against St Mirren, who got home on the bus at the same time as everybody else.
“But we got them in later in the day, training hard for 45 minutes to top them up so they are ready for Saturday.
“We will have injuries, we will have problems and situations and they have to be ready to go straight in and hit the ground running.
“They can’t take their time because they have been out for a while, we need this group to be ready to go.
“It’s good we have got people going in who are just at the same ability as what’s coming out. That’s a key thing.”
Mackay praised the contribution of left back Jake Vokins, who was handed his Premiership debut against St Mirren.
Vokins suffered a metatarsal fracture shortly after joining on loan from Southampton in the summer, with Mackay thrilled he came through the full match unscathed.
He added: “Jake came in on loan and had a dreadful start. We finally managed to get him back match fit to the way the rest of the group have got, as they have jumped up another level.
“It was fantastic to get him on the pitch and I thought he was excellent.
“I was hoping we would get 60 to 75 minutes out of him, but with five minutes to go he was blocking a shot at one end and putting a cross in at the other end.”
