Dundee defender Kevin Holt believes teammate Julen Etxabeguren has the strength of character to bounce back from his latest injury blow.
The Spanish centre-half was carried off during Wednesday’s night’s home defeat to Partick Thistle after suffering a suspected ruptured Achilles.
He was rushed to hospital and the club is now waiting to hear the extent of the damage to the ankle.
Etxabeguren has been particularly unfortunate with injuries since joining the Dark Blues, damaging his shoulder, eye, nose and knee (twice) as well as the usual bumps and bruises.
However, he has recovered from those setbacks and had been playing some of his best stuff in a Dundee jersey.
It could be a long road back for him this time but Holt thinks he has the right character to cope with this adversity.
“I just hope Julen isn’t out for too long,” said Holt.
“He has been pretty unlucky.
“His first season was plagued by injuries but every time he has worked hard to get back fitter and stronger.
“He was always to be found in the gym working on his rehab and it is a shame it has happened to him again.
“I think he will come through it.”
It was the unfortunate Etxabeguren whose own goal gave Thistle their 1-0 victory at Dens, a result that saw the home team slip out of the top six and be replaced by the Jags.
The Dundee performance lacked spark and it was a big letdown on the back of great wins over Rangers and Motherwell.
Holt said: “We were disappointed because we didn’t play as well as we had in recent games.
“We were just a bit flat.
“It is hard to put your on finger why that was.
“We went into the game full of confidence but, the way we started, it didn’t really look like that.
“After they got their goal we never really looked to pin them back right away.
“They got through to half-time with no bother at all.
“We were a wee bit better in the second half but it was mainly high crosses, which were meat and drink for their defenders.”
The Dens men may have slipped out of the top half but Holt believes they will be back there before too long, with St Johnstone next up for them a week on Saturday in Perth.
He added: “It is still in our hands, I would say.
“We have St Johnstone next and we need to show we can pick up points away from home.
“I think we definitely showed how well we can play away last week against Motherwell.
“We also did well at beat Saints at Dens at the turn of the year and that set us off on a good run.
“The fact we have beaten them before means we know we can beat them again.”
