Ross County captain Richard Brittain is set to play through the pain until undergoing an operation on his foot during next month’s international break.
The midfielder has played with the injury all season and was set to go under the knife after County’s 1-1 Highland derby draw against Caley Thistle this month but postponed the surgery due to his side’s shortage of midfielders.
However, with Staggies manager Jim McIntyre having signed midfielders Martin Woods and Terry Dunfield last week, Brittain has now been afforded the flexibility of setting a provisional date next month, with the option of undergoing the surgery sooner if required.
McIntyre said: “Richie was due to go in straight after the Inverness game but held on because we’re light in the middle of the park. Richie has been playing with this the whole season. He’s been getting through it but it’s getting to a stage where something is going to need to be done. He’s prepared to leave it until the next international break.
“If it flares up before then we can maybe look at that but now we’ve got some midfield cover in it might allow us to do that. He’s been in very good form the last couple of games, so if we can postpone it and wait until the next international break that would be the ideal scenario.”
Fellow midfielder Rocco Quinn also requires surgery having recently played through a hip injury and he will undergo his operation on Monday.
McIntyre refused to set a timescale for Quinn’s length of absence, adding: “Once Rocco goes in, they’ll know exactly what needs to be done.
“There’s a couple of variants to what they can do and one of them adds two months on. Rather than me coming out with a date and finding out it’s worse than first feared, we’ll just see how the operation goes.”
Meanwhile, McIntyre insists new additions Woods and Dunfield are still playing catch up in their attempt to get match fit, ahead of this weekend’s Premiership visit of Celtic.
The County manager said: “They’ve done fine. When you sign any player outside a transfer window they’re lacking fitness, so that’s what we’ve been working on.
“We threw Lewis Toshney in when he probably wasn’t match ready. But they’ll certainly be in and around the squad, whether they actually start the Celtic game is another matter.
“They’ve got that experience where they can get themselves through games. The most important thing for me is that they’re ready. Whether it’s this week or next week, they’ll have a key part to play.”