St Johnstone’s attacking injury count is rising to worrying levels.
And manager Callum Davidson may have to dip into the free agent market to address it.
David Wotherspoon will have his knee scanned in the next couple of days to determine what damage was done in a challenge with Anthony Ralston at Hampden on Saturday.
Davidson revealed that Glenn Middleton is expected to be sidelined for four to six weeks with a hamstring injury – a similar period to Stevie May.
And in the short-term, the Perth boss will also have to do without suspended striker Chris Kane against Hibs.
“The squad is being really stretched and it’s tough at the moment,” said Davidson.
“We have lost two or three key players for a long time, in a very busy period of the season coming up.
“Other players will get their chance now so it will be up to them to take it.
“We will maybe have to look at things, try to get our tactics right for the players we’ve got available and try to be as positive as we can be.
“I will be having a look at the free transfers who are out there to see if there’s anyone available who can help us out.
“Numbers-wise we could do with adding to the squad so I’ll assess it over the next few days.”
On Wotherspoon, Davidson reported: “It’s not great with David.
“It’s never good when someone goes down in pain with nobody near them.
“He will be having a scan in the next day or two and fingers crossed it’s not too bad.
“We will have to wait on the results of that before we know precisely what the problem is.
“David was playing very well.
“He played ahead of Ali Crawford because he’s done it in so many big games.
“I trust him.
“He’s a massive player for us and we just have to hope he gets positive news now.”
Impact player
Middleton picked up his injury playing for Scotland’s under-21s and isn’t likely to play much more football in 2021.
“Glenn will be out for four to six weeks,” said Davidson. “Which will take us up to Christmas time.
“He’s young so hopefully he heals quickly.
“It’s a blow because impact-wise he’s someone who can make a real difference playing from the start or off the bench.
“Glenn gives us a lot of energy.
“So we have a lot of problems – I’ve asked Macca to start training again!
“At the start of the season we were missing a lot of defenders but now it’s flipped and we’re short of a lot of attackers.”
