Ross County will be without injured full back Marcus Fraser for Saturday’s Premiership match against Hamilton Accies, but fellow defenders Andrew Davies and Scott Boyd are close to a return.
Fraser was taken to hospital after dislocating his shoulder during the 2-0 loss to Celtic at Parkhead on Saturday after a challenge from Hoops midfielder Stuart Armstrong.
Manager Jim McIntyre does not know how long the 21-year-old will be out for, but his options are increasing with the impending return of captain Davies, who missed Saturday’s game with an ankle injury, and Boyd, who has been sidelined with a calf injury.
McIntyre said: “Marcus will definitely miss out on Saturday. We’ll know more once the specialists have seen him. His shoulder has popped out a couple of times before, but went back in fairly easily.
“This time, unfortunately, it was totally different. He was in a great deal of pain. We sent him to hospital to get it put back in and it probably means there was a bit more damage done.
“But it is a guessing game at the moment. I can’t say much more until we get the full picture.
“Andrew is absolutely fine. We took the decision to give him an injection in his ankle given the run of games coming up. We felt he had been playing with it for several weeks and we didn’t want it to develop into a problem where he had to miss several weeks.
“The injection improved his ankle and he trained yesterday morning.
“Scott Boyd is making good progress and will be back running by the end of the week.
“There is versatility within the squad, so there is also a flexibility of selection.”
After defeats to Hearts and Celtic, McIntyre is determined to return to winning ways, with just a point separating the fourth-placed Staggies from St Johnstone in seventh.
He added: “There’s no reason why we can’t kick on again. We knew the spell we were coming to was going to be difficult.
“We were extremely disappointed to pick nothing up from the last two games, especially the Hearts game.
“We didn’t deserve anything at Parkhead but the Hearts one was sore for us.
“Now, we come into a run of games, with the first two at home, where there is an opportunity for us. Our home form has generally been very good this season.
“If we want to stay in the top six, we have got to make sure we are getting results in the coming weeks.
“This is the period of the season where it is all to play for.
“It is vital we get points on the board.”