Caley Thistle manager John Robertson fears he will be without Aaron Doran and Anthony McDonald for the foreseeable future after both midfielders suffered injuries in training.
Irishman Doran has picked up a suspected torn thigh, while McDonald, who only joined the Highlanders last week, has suffered a twisted knee.
Both players picked up the injuries during an indoor training session at the Highland Football Academy in Dingwall on Friday.
The timescale for the return of both players is not yet known, with Doran and McDonald to undergo further assessment by Caley Jags’ physio staff this week.
Robertson is already planning for the pair being ruled out of a busy spell of upcoming fixtures however, which starts with tomorrow’s home match against Queen of the South.
Robertson said: “We lost two on Friday. Aaron Doran pulled a thigh muscle, and Anthony McDonald twisted his knee. Those two are out for the foreseeable future.
“That was a blow. Anthony just turned in the indoor arena with nobody near him, his studs caught and it looked like he has damaged his cartilage.
“Aaron, with virtually the last kick of the game in training, had a shot and felt a pain in his thigh. It looks like he’s got a slight tear.
“It’s annoying, but that can happen at any time.
“We had looked at it and thought we could mix and match our forwards and midfield for the games.
“That curtails what we’ve got to use up front, but we will just have to go with it. There are other players who can play in various other positions.
“I spoke to the physio over the weekend and they’re just letting the injuries settle a little bit over the weekend. We’ll take it from there.
“We’ll assess them and see where we are.”
Robertson is optimistic about the prospects of tomorrow’s match going ahead, with Inverness having seen their last three scheduled fixtures called off due to the cold weather.
He added: “We just want to play. We wanted to play on Saturday but it just wasn’t available to go because of the frozen pitch.
“We are hopeful and keeping our fingers crossed that the current temperatures stay as they are and we can get a game ahead on Wednesday.
“We have trained every day in Dingwall. We have come to a good agreement with Ross County, where we will get it one the morning and then the afternoon the next day.
“We checked Fort George on Sunday and it was still brick hard, but I’m hopeful we will be able to get out there on Tuesday.”
Tomorrow’s game will kick start a busy run of four games in nine days, with the recent call offs causing Inverness to drop to second bottom.
Robertson is eager to make the most of the chance to climb the table by capitalising on the games in hand.
He added: “We have been given a tough run, but when we come through those four matches we will virtually have caught up with the teams around us.
“It’s a bit strange they have asked us to squeeze them in so quickly because we’ve got two midweeks in February still to go, five in March and four in April.
“I understand they have got to keep some midweeks back in case there are any more games cancelled for adverse weather. We do tend to get another blast up here in March most of the time.
“We have got to be wary of the Covid aspects as well.
“A couple of years ago we had a lot games, playing virtually every midweek, and it allowed us to gain a lot of momentum. That’s what we are hoping to take from it, and we will just play, train and rest.”