Injury worries for Motherwell

Posted Tuesday, September 22, 2009 by PA

Motherwell manager Jim Gannon has concerns over Ross Forbes, John Sutton, Jim O'Brien and Giles Coke for the Co-operative Insurance Cup clash against Inverness.

All four sat out training on Monday after picking up "heavy knocks" during the win over Dundee United.

Shaun Hutchinson could return from an ankle injury but Paul Slane is still out following calf surgery.

Gannon is aware that Inverness, managed by one of his predecessors in Terry Butcher, will be well motivated and has warned against complacency.

"If we drop our standards we could be in trouble but we need to be professional and raise our game to the standards we have set in the last couple of weeks," he added.

Despite facing their 12th competitive match this season, Gannon does not think Motherwell can "afford" to rest players - but he may be forced into changes.

"Ross Forbes, John Sutton, Jim O'Brien and Giles Coke all had to sit out training with heavy knocks," Gannon said.

"Saturday's game was a physically demanding game. So that's when you hope you have prepared the players who are under the starting 11 well.

"We won't be taking any chances and assuming that the opposition will be weaker. It's a question of us putting out the best 11 we can to get the best result."

Inverness manager Terry Butcher is likely to ring the changes to his side.

Butcher has gone with the same starting line-up for the last two league games but was left reeling after their disappointing 1-1 draw with Airdrie United at the weekend.

He said: "Individual errors were abundant, our passing was poor, everything you could say was not right. So I wouldn't like to think we could turn in another performance like that again so soon.

"They have got to learn pretty quickly as they can't afford to have Jekyll and Hyde performances like that too often."

Forwards Dougie Imrie and Eric Odhiambo should complete their recovery from injury to return to the squad at the end of next month.