Montrose will travel to face Clyde this afternoon with their squad reduced to the very marrow of the bare bones.
The Gable Endies’ shock Scottish Cup exit to non-league Lothian Thistle on Tuesday night came at a crippling cost with three key players in Ross McCord, Andrew Steeves and Terry Masson all suffering serious knee injuries.
The full extent of the damage to the trio is still not known but they will definitely miss today’s game along with five others already on the injured list.
Montrose manager Paul Hegarty is working hard behind the scenes to bring reinforcements in on emergency loans with defender Jahmal Howlett-Mundle already arriving from Hearts on Thursday and Jesse Curran from Dundee yesterday.
However, the Links Park boss has also called on those already at the club but who have not featured recently to stand up and be counted against Barry Ferguson’s side.
Hegarty said: “Ryan McCord and Andrew Steeves will be having scans in Edinburgh to find out the full extent of the damage but we will be leaving Terry Masson for a while and monitor how he gets on.
“However, what is certain is that they will all be missing for some length of time.
“As I said after the cup tie, Lothian Thistle thoroughly deserved their win but we really paid a heavy price.
“We will also be without Jordan Millar (ribs), Paul Watson (groin), Matty Allan (ankle), Ryan Kenneth (chest) and Adam McWilliam (ankle).
“So that is eight players out in total for the game at Clyde.
“Robbie Neilson at Hearts has been really good to me and has allowed Jahmal Howlett-Mundle to come to us on an emergency loan and now Paul Hartley at Dundee has let Jesse Curran come on loan as well.
“Paul and Robbie understand the predicament we are in and we are very grateful to both of them and their clubs.
“However, the game is also a chance for some of those already at the club to step up to the plate and show their mettle.
“If they can do that, I will be delighted and hopefully we can finally secure our first away win this season despite all the players missing.”