Hamilton head coach Stuart Taylor is hoping to have midfielder Miko Virtanen back in time for pre-season after the former Aberdeen starlet underwent ankle surgery.
The former Finnish youth international has struggled with an Achilles injury in 2022 and hasn't featured since a 1-0 Championship loss to Dunfermline on January 15th.
Now Virtanen has undergone a procedure and will aim to be back in training by the time Taylor's team return for their preparations ahead of next term's second tier season.
Accies know they will be playing Championship football when the 22/23 campaign kicks off after a 1-0 loss to title-chasing Arbroath ended their promotion play-off hopes last Saturday.
While waiting to see a full diagnosis on how long the 23-year-old will be out for, the New Douglas Park boss was happy to have Joe Hilton back in his squad against Dick Campbell's side, after the goalkeeper suffered knee ligament damage less than two months ago.
He said: "Miko went for an operation at the start of the week. It went well, so we are waiting to hear back from the specialist and surgeon on that.
"It's too soon (for a timescale). He has to go to a specialist in a couple of weeks so we will find out then when he gets the stiches out and everything. Hopefully he will be with us at the start of pre-season.
"It was good to get Joe back. He's a great character in and around the dressing room. Joe's come in and did very well, progressing and improving.
"We were gutted when he got his injury (against Morton in February), but he's worked hard to get back."
While there promotion hopes for the season are over, Taylor's side are still looking to finish as high as they can, sitting seventh and taking on sixth-placed Morton this weekend, with two more games to go against Raith Rovers and Inverness after their trip to Cappielow
Victory would take them above the Ton - managed by club legend Dougie Imrie - while also fully guaranteeing they can't be dragged into the relegation play-off mix.
The 47-year-old added: "The squad are hurt from Saturday's defeat. They are hurt by not achieving what we tried to get up to. We were deflated after the game.
"When we came back in for training, the mood was back to normal and the standard has been really good. The lads have reacted and dealt with it really well.
"We want to put it right at the weekend but we know it's going to be a very difficult game. We have to make sure we deal with the challenge right.
"Our ambition is to win as many games as we can. We are professional people who take pride in what we are doing. We represent Hamilton and we are playing for the community.
"We have a professional game of football we need to win. We will give it everything we have got. It's not a case of giving someone who's not played for a few weeks a wee game of football - we need to win as many games as we can."
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