St Johnstone defender Tony Gallacher has suffered a suspected leg fracture and will miss the remainder of the season.
The left-sided wing-back limped off in the first half of Saints’ win against Livingston on Saturday afternoon.
It was initially hoped that the injury was not too serious but Perth boss Callum Davidson admits it doesn’t look great.
He said: “He’s still to have an X-ray but it looks like a fracture, which would mean he’s out for the rest of the season.
“Tony has come back up the road to play games and he’s done that.
“He’s played quite a few games in a row and is quietly progressing.
“The more minutes he was getting the more confident he was becoming.
“This is obviously a blow for him but hopefully he’ll recover quickly and we can get him back in for pre-season.
“Three months is probably the timescale we’re looking at.
“It’s not the most common fracture so we’ll get a couple of opinions on it.
“He tried to get up because the pain was easing off a bit but as soon as he put weight on it we knew he’d have to come off straight away.”
Dan Cleary is also nursing a wound after a poor challenge from Livingston’s James Penrice.
“Tony’s one was a difficult one to see,” Davidson continued.
“I don’t think there was any malice in the tackle. It was a simple 50-50.
“Unfortunately Tony has come out worst. From the other one further up the pitch, Dan Cleary has ended up needing stitches on the top of his foot.
“For me it was a tackle that could quite easily have been a sending off. You could see the reaction from their sub when it was made.
“It’s the sort of tackle you could make in my day – straight leg, front-on.
“But they’re trying to get it out of the game because of the injuries it can cause. The tackle on Dan was quite robust and could well have been a red card by today’s rules.
“He won’t be training early in the week – the foot is still swollen and obviously the stitches have just gone in.
“Hopefully it will settle down before the weekend.”
