A disappointing weekend in which they turned in a poor performance against Peterhead became worse for Montrose with news that Stuart Ferguson is out until next Christmas at the earliest.

His importance to the Montrose midfield and defence was obvious as it leaked four goals against Peterhead—each one of which could have been prevented by competent defending, reckoned manager Henry Hall.

“A scan has shown that Ferguson has cruciate ligament damage which will require an operation,” said Hall.

“It is a bad injury resulting from wear and tear and the knee just collapsed under him in training— there was no tackle or twist.”

Ferguson joined Montrose in the summer of 2000 from Forfar Athletic and is the longest serving player at the club. He has played at left-back, centre-half or as a wing-back all with great effect. He has made over 125 appearances for the club and has been an ever present this season.

“It is going to be Christmas or January at the earliest before he can think about making a return. He is going to be a big loss,” Hall lamented.

“It is no coincidence that we defended so poorly without him.

“We lost the first goal as a result of Darren Spink missing a tackle then Kerr Doods completely missed the ball."

Graeme Stewart put Peterhead ahead after just three minutes and Montrose, although not playing brilliantly, kept plugging away and equalised in the 64th minute when Euan Hall made a strong run, parted to Kevin Webster who set up Craig Smart to drive the ball home.

“It was a great goal, but we couldn’t keep it together for three minutes,” the manager added.

Craig Tully, Dougie Cameron and Stewart again in the dying seconds quashed any hopes Montrose might have had of retaining third place.

“We did not pass the ball well, we kept giving it away and we defended very poorly. We have got to do better.”

Hall is looking to expand his squad and first on the shopping list will be a replacement for Ferguson.