Ross County forward Alex Schalk will today discover the extent of the knee ligament injury he suffered in Saturday’s 0-0 draw against Rangers.
The Staggies are set to be boosted by the return of leading scorer Liam Boyce for this weekend’s game against Hearts at Tynecastle.
Schalk was carried off after 76 minutes of the Ibrox encounter after picking up the injury as he stretched to challenge Gers defender James Tavernier.
The Dutchman will undergo a scan today which will determine his length of absence, with McIntyre hopeful he will return for County’s first game after next month’s international break against Aberdeen on October 15.
McIntyre said: “It looks as if he has done his medial ligament, although to what degree we don’t know.
“He’ll be out for a couple of weeks, and that might be longer, but it’s too early to say. We don’t know the worst-case scenario until we get it scanned, so I’m reluctant to set a time-frame on it.
“But on an initial assessment I’ll hopefully have him back after the international break.”
Boyce, who was last week named as Premiership player of the month for August, was sidelined against Rangers after suffering a back spasm on Friday.
The 25-year-old, who is the Premiership’s leading scorer on six goals, is likely to return for the trip to Edinburgh and McIntyre added: “Hopefully, Liam should be fine for the weekend. It was a back spasm and generally these things are two or three days. Unfortunately for us, it happened on Friday, so there was no way Liam could make it.”
County were forced to withstand large spells of pressure to claim a point from their first visit to Ibrox in the club’s 87-year history.
Right back Marcus Fraser made his first appearance of the season after a shoulder injury, while Kenny van der Weg started for the first time since the opening day in place of the suspended Jay McEveley at left back, and McIntyre was pleased with the way his back line adapted following the changes.
He added: “When we’re put under a lot of pressure the defenders are going to be put under the spotlight more because they’re having to defend their box, but that’s something we did well against Rangers.
“The two centre halves have got great experience there but, equally, Kenny and Marcus, in his first game back, did a lot of things well. The back five, including the goalkeeper, did very well.”