Motherwell ravaged by injury ahead of Rangers clash as boss confirms fresh blows with 8 stars out

Stuart Kettlewell has opened up on the severity of the injury problems plaguing Motherwell ahead of meeting Rangers.

The Steelmen travel to Hampden Park this Saturday due to delayed renovation works at Ibrox, but they will have from a fully fit squad for Premiership battle. Sam Nicholson had a serious knee injury confirmed earlier this week, joining the likes of Callum Slattery, Harry Paton and Johnny Koutroumbis on the long-term treatment table.

Kettlewell says they are down the road of identifying Nicholson’s issue as his squad is left short after more bumps picked up in the league opener against Ross County. He said: “We are very hamstrung with the injuries we have. We suffered a few off the back of Saturday.

“The Sam Nicholson one was disappointing as we were getting to the latter stages of his rehab and there was a lapse, a breakdown, and from there we are seeking the best possible guidance. We are quite far down with what we think it is and what comes next. We know it’s an injury that keeps him out for a significant period of time.

“With some of the injuries it’s been impact and unavoidable, with some of it we are trying to limit time on the pitch for players to make sure they’re fit and able to play in games. It gets to the point just now where we can’t rea;;y train much less than what we are to prepare a group of players for playing on a Saturday.

“It’s been a difficult juggling act. I was really happy with some of the business we’d done over the close season but we are going to have to wait a significant amount of time for some of these guys to take to the pitch.”

Asked how many players there will be out for the game against Rangers, Kettlewell confirmed it was eight as of Thursday morning, with Filip Stuparevic, Shane Blaney and Ross Callachan on top of the long-term absentees confirmed as out by the club. Lennon Miller is down as a doubt.

He explained on the amount of bodies out and Miller: “I think we sit about eight just now. Some clubs can absorb that and it wouldn’t have any kind of impact. Without being disrespectful, we aren’t talking about some of our teenagers, it’s bona fide first team players so that puts a strain on selection and protection of the guys out there.

“We’d like to do a bit more business but you can see we have done a fair amount of business. So that is difficult and is very much on a shoestring. We don’t have masses to work with but if we can get another one or two in, we are going to have to try and be pretty creative to do that.

“Lennon was carrying a bit going into the weekend. It was a whack and he took another whack on Saturday hence why he came off the pitch. He’s a doubt for the game and hasn’t trained with us this week.”

Meanwhile Callachan has picked up another ‘bad’ injury after recovery from a serious knee problem that kept him out for most of last season at Ross County. Shane Blaney is out for over a month. Midfielder Tom Sparrow is nearing a return to competitive action, however, after missing last week’s clash.

Kettlewell added: “Ross is a bad one as well. Really unfortunate, the detail of it was a light training session on Monday. He trained really well and at the very end of it he pulled up with what looks like a hamstring injury, and the severity of it looks bad enough it keeps him out for a period of time.

“Tom is getting back into the swing of it, both a back and groin issue he had. Tom’s a fit lad so probably doesn’t take him as long to get up to full speed. We have him back in full training sessions. He starts to give us another option.

“Shane was an impact injury in the game on Saturday. He’s got a tear in his medial ligament in his knee so that keeps him out somewhere between four-six weeks. Shane’s one of the robust guys in our team and as soon as he put his hand up, I knew there was something significant there.”