Motherwell injury crisis deepens with three new long-term absentees

Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell has added three more names to the club’s lengthy injury list and is hopeful he can make signings to give him options as he deals with the loss of important players.

Club captain Paul McGinn was substituted off during Motherwell’s defeat at Hibs last weekend, having suffered a recurrence of a thigh injury on his first start in three months.

Kettlewell revealed that the defender now faces surgery and is likely to be out for around four months. Goalkeeper Aston Oxborough has a thumb injury that will keep him on the sidelines until mid-April and Steve Seddon’s ankle injury has ruled him out for two months.

That triple blow comes with Lennon Miller still out with an ankle fracture, Zach Robinson out for the season with an Achilles issue and Ross Callahan still working back to fitness after a hamstring injury.

Apostolos Stamatelopoulos has a torn calf that will keep him out for two weeks, while Liam Gordon and Harry Paton are likely to miss the Scottish Cup tie against St Johnstone this weekend. Jair Tavares is another who faces investigation into an unspecified injury.

Kettlewell says the situation is difficult to manage, with some important players out for a long spell.

“We’ve obviously encountered a lot of issues since the start of the season,” he said. “But I would feel that in terms of injuries, that this is possibly the worst stage that we’re at.

“Looking at the board the other day, we were looking at nine pretty serious injuries and nine players that we’re without. That’s hard for us to absorb, of course it is.

“And from that, you’re looking at a lot of significant players, and some players that have been very good for us, some for a long period of time, some since they came to the football club.

“So it’s not an excuse. It’s just that in an injury front, it’s a bleak outlook. Me as always, I’m the most positive person in the world, and what we do is focus on the players that are available and that’s what I’ve done since the start of the season.”

The club will turn to the transfer market in the hope of bringing in new faces to solve some selection problems but Kettlewell suggested moves may not materialise until near the end of the window.

“I’ve spoken to the board and to Brian, our chief executive,” he said. “What we want to do is try and make sure that we’ve got options in positions.

“I’m sure you’ll see with some of the people that are missing that it’s a huge loss but what we don’t have is, watching other clubs out there paying fees with significantly bigger resources than what we do.

“What we can do is try and be cute and clever and pick up players that can step into the obvious voids that we start to see.

“That’s what we’ll try and do.

“It’s really difficult. It’s difficult for a lot of clubs but essentially what happens with clubs like Motherwell, and it happened last January, is potentially have to wait for stuff to happen at bigger clubs before the market starts to move.

“Only at that point, because you don’t have hundreds of thousands or even millions of pounds to throw at players then you have to be dependent on other clubs and other things shifting.

“We’ll have to be patient. We’re trying our best and working endlessly to try and make sure that we strengthen the group but I can’t put a timescale on it.

“The club have been supportive in that.”