Motherwell left-back Pape Souare faces another spell on the sidelines after suffering an ankle injury.
Souare suffered his second injury of the season in an internal game on Sunday morning, which was arranged after the previous day’s cinch Premiership meeting with St Johnstone was postponed.
Kettlewell said: “Pape Souare sustained what looks like a pretty significant injury.
“I will not go into too many details just now because we are going through the process of scans, X-rays etc.
“We feel sorry for Pape, he has been numerous weeks trying to get back from a calf injury, he was looking really good, really strong, but unfortunately he takes a step back.
“We will support him and make sure he has got everything he needs and we will get a full diagnosis and take it from there.”
The former Crystal Palace player made five starts before damaging his calf in August and had only made one appearance since, as a substitute against Celtic.
On-loan Huddersfield player Brodie Spencer has been playing in the left wing-back role while another loan signing, Georgie Gent, has had to make do with appearances off the bench as Stephen O’Donnell continues on the right.
Souare’s contract expires in January while the two loan players signed season-long deals.
Kettlewell, whose team host Ross County on Saturday, added: “It’s a blow to lose Pape but it’s probably an area that we do have a bit of cover.
“Brodie coming in on that left side has been excellent. We always knew he had a versatility.
“It would have been easy to put in that natural left-footer but to do that at the time, I would have been taking someone out of a slot where they had been performing to a really high level.
“Brodie has been excellent, Georgie has been training really well and has undoubted quality and someone we think we throw in there given an opportunity, especially on the front foot with his deliveries.”
