Big men bow out in double injury blow for Ross County
Easier access to your trusted, local news. Subscribe to a digital package and support local news publishing.
ROSS Draper and Callum Morris look set for extended spells back in the treatment room after being hit by fresh injury woes.
The experienced Ross County pair have both broken down with recurrent calf problems to add to a catalogue of absences endured in the last couple of seasons.
It represents a bitter blow for two valued pillars of the County squad, with Draper now counting 18 stop-start months since shattering his knee cap against his former club Caley Thistle in Inverness in April 2019.
Morris, for his part, saw his first season at County terminated in January and also endured two lengthy spells out last season.
Manager Stuart Kettlewell’s disappointment is tempered a little by the return of young Josh Reid after a fortnight’s precautionary isolation after possible Covid-19 exposure during Scotland under-19s service and by Tom Grivosti’s return after almost a year out with a foot injury.
But Coll Donaldson, with a groin issue forcing him off against Hibs, is also a major doubt for Saturday’s trip to Motherwell.
Kettlewell said: “Callum Morris and Ross Draper have calf complaints, among recurrent injury problems.
“They are two we’re taking right back out of it as we need to come up with a solution, rather than having them in here one week and back out the next. We’re looking to see if we can get to the bottom of that with both players.
“Both have had bad injury histories over the last year to 18 months. Cal has had a lot to contend with and big Ross has had problems since fracturing his knee in a derby match against Caley Thistle.
“He has had a long road back from that and also a couple of other issues on the back of it.
“I don’t want to keep pitching them out there and have that same complaint all the time. We just need to get them right and get them back playing games.”
Reid has been housebound since returning from Scotland under-19 duty, but Kettlewell will assess his readiness for possible involvement at Fir Park.
While Donaldson dropping out adds to frustrations, Kettlewell stressed: “Around the country, everybody has injury concerns.
“The one thing that has improved this year for us is the availability of players.
“But Ross and Cal are two big characters and massive personalities in our dressing room. They are leaders we know can perform at Premiership level so we need to try to rectify their situations sooner rather than later.”