Kettlewell rues Motherwell's injury problems as Harry Paton suffers 'significant' knock

Stuart Kettlewell is ruing Motherwell’s injury issues this season as Harry Paton is the latest player to be added to a growing list.

The midfielder will be out for a “significant” amount of time after picking up an ankle knock.

The Canada international missed the 3-1 defeat to Celtic at Fir Park on Sunday with the injury and the club are awaiting the result of tests to determine the length of his absence.

Kettlewell has seen 15 of his first team squad being injured for more than a month at different points of the season as the Steelmen struggle to find the kind of form that got them up to seventh in the Premiership last year.

They now sit ninth in the table and only four points ahead of second bottom Ross County, who also have a game in hand – meaning a potential relegation battle is a realistic possibility if they don’t put a run together soon.

Speaking ahead of their game against Livingston on Wednesday, Kettlewell said: “What we are saying at this minute is that Harry is going to be out for a significant amount of time, I’m not going to timestamp that for you but he has sustained a significant injury to his ankle.

“It’s just another frustration, not making excuses and not feeling sorry for ourselves, but I’ve had a look through some of the statistics and some of the numbers and I think 15 players have been out for over a month for us this season.

“Some of them far more than a month, and I think when you take that into account it makes it tough, it really does make it difficult.

“So many of them have been freak accidents, impact injuries and that sort of thing. We actually haven’t had that many muscle injuries which is quite incredible in amongst all of that.

“So from that side of it we are always doing our due diligence to try and make sure that we train properly and we prepare the players as best we can.

“We have tweaked and changed things, in accordance to what we have available, different surfaces and all these different things that you look at in the modern game.

“But to have 15 players since the start of the season to be out for more than a month, and some, as I say, for longer, it is a big ask for a small squad.

“And to add to that I think I have only had six players available that haven’t had any kind of injury whatsoever and haven’t had a situation when they’ve not been available.

“So Harry now goes into that number and I just hope that eventually our luck changes and we are able to have that fresh squad and have as many numbers available to pick from as possible.

“Because undoubtedly that would make us stronger.”