Dundee United remain hopeful Brian Graham’s ankle injury is not as bad as first feared after the striker was stretchered off in the 1-1 draw at Inverness.
The forward looked in some discomfort after landing awkwardly on his ankle early in the second half and is believed to have damaged ligaments, although it was thought last night there is no break.
And after having to bring in Farid El Alagui on loan from Brentford last week, United boss Jackie McNamara will be praying another one of his striking options is back as soon as possible.
Yesterday’s game was in some doubt due to areas of the pitch being frozen prior to kick-off, and McNamara said he was unsure whether or not the surface played any part in Graham’s injury,
“The pitch was very firm,” McNamara noted. “They said they put the heating on, but maybe it’s not working.
“It was very firm in the goalmouths. The referee said it was fine, it was the same for both teams and we just got on with it.
“I was hoping it would thaw out a little bit. You couldn’t get a key into it. I always felt it was going to be a game with slips and mistakes and fortunately there weren’t too many.
“I don’t know if the pitch played a part in Brian’s injury. It looks a sore one.”
“It wasn’t when he landed, it was when he came down and moved his leg again, it moved beneath him. We’ll need to wait and see how bad it is.”
McNamara felt Sunday’s 1-1 draw up in Inverness was probably a fair result on reflection, even though his men had chances to take all three.
United responded well after going behind to Billy McKay’s early opener and levelled through Keith Watson, but neither side could grab a winner and had to settle for a share of the spoils.
However, Caley saw a second half penalty saved and United twice hit the woodwork in an entertaining encounter.
“It could have gone either way, to be honest,” McNamara noted.
“We hit the post a couple of times and our goalkeeper had a fantastic penalty save. He’s had plenty of practice with penalties against him in the last couple of months.”
But McNamara was disappointed his own side were not awarded a penalty when Gary Mackay-Steven appeared to be impeded by Gary Warren as he bore down on goal.
He continued: “It shows, if anything, we are sometimes not experienced or streetwise enough in certain situations.
“I look at their penalty, then I look at our claim with Mackay-Steven when there is contact. I think if Gaz goes down, it’s a penalty, but he is trying to carry it through and score.
“In terms of contact, it was no different to the penalty Inverness got. If Gaz had scored, you would be commending him for staying on his feet.
“But it’s part of learning the game.”
Inverness boss John Hughes, who bizarrely needed treatment to a head wound after banging his head on the dugout at half-time, thought a draw was about right.
“In terms of the game, I thought it was a good football match and we played some good stuff,” he concluded.
“It was two real football teams. We missed the best chance of the game, obviously, with the penalty, but rode our luck a bit with them hitting the post.
‘Is a draw a fair result? Possibly, aye.”