St Johnstone forward Michael Coulson is facing a month on the sidelines.
The former York City man only played half of Saturday’s draw with Motherwell before being taken off with a calf injury.
And medical opinion has confirmed Saints’ initial fears.
“Michael Coulson has pulled his calf muscle and we are told he will be out for four to six weeks,” manager Tommy Wright reported. “He has been really unfortunate.
“He felt it around the 40-minute mark and thought he could get to half-time. But it went before we could get him inside.
“It is disappointing for him. It has taken him time to get into the team and he was on a run of games where I felt he was getting better week by week. Michael had looked lively again at the weekend.
“He will miss out on the games coming up but on the plus side he has time in January to fully recover during the break.”
Coulson will of course miss Saints’ next game against Kilmarnock on Friday night but Steven Anderson, Liam Craig and Danny Swanson should all be available.
“Ando took a 24-hour bug and still felt weak on Saturday so there was no point in risking him,” Wright said.
“To be fair I thought Tam Scobbie did really well and that right foot, left foot partnership with Joe Shaughnessy worked nicely.
“We had a lot of the ball and they were able to step out with it. But Ando will be fine for the Kilmarnock game
“Chris Millar came off with cramp, which is understandable. There are no issues there.
“Also on the plus side for me is that Danny Swanson will train this week and he will be ready for Friday. We decided to give him a few more days when he felt it slightly on Thursday.
“The decision wasn’t influenced by knowing Steven MacLean can’t play on the artificial surface at Rugby Park. It was simply down to medical advice. We want to make sure he is 100%.
“Liam Craig should also be available again after his back injury.”
Wright is happy with the options he has to replace regular frontman MacLean.
He said: “Obviously Macca won’t play on Friday but the good thing is that he won’t have three games in eight days.
“I have plenty of options. Cummins has come on and looked better, Kane is doing well and young George Hunter has been doing well in the 20s and been sharp in training, that’s why he was on the bench.
“Saturday was another example of the strength of the squad. Despite missing players we still picked up a point.”
Wright said that there was “no update on the contracts situation”.
He added: “I have spoken to the players individually and they all want to stay. That should give the chairman a good platform to get deals done.”
