Motherwell have suffered another injury blow with the news Stephen O’Donnell is out for several weeks.
The experienced former Scotland right-back sat out the weekend’s Premier Sports Cup semi-final defeat to Rangers and is now not expected back until December.
He joins captain and fellow defender Paul McGinn on the sidelines with the skipper’s thigh problem keeping him out for a significant period of time.
With the experienced pair missing in action, 18-year-old starlet Lennon Miller led the team out at Hampden on Sunday.
Stuart Kettlewell reveals Motherwell timeline for Stephen O’Donnell
Motherwell haven’t had their injury problems to seek this season and could have done without O’Donnell being missing for a lengthy period of time.
But manager Stuart Kettlewell has now revealed that looks likely to be the case with a timeline of around four weeks expected.
He said: “Stephen is going to be out for a period of time and I can’t put an exact date on that, but what I would give you at this stage is that we’re aiming to try and get him back sometime in December.
“I think we know, categorically, then, that he will be out for at least another four weeks and potentially into December.
“On Marvin Kaleta, I’ve never been so sure of someone being a good player, trying to bring him to the club, seeing the skill-set that he’s got, his attributes.
“His levels in training were building up and so much of it was down to match fitness, and there have been a couple of games where he’s come off with a bit of fatigue and stuff.
“We’re aware of that, and we feel as if we’re getting over that hurdle, so we feel as if we’ve built him up to a stage.
“But starting games and trying to play 90 minutes at this level in your first senior starts is a different thing.
“But I’m so sure he will cross that hurdle very quickly and I was especially pleased with his performance on Sunday, I thought he was excellent.”
Motherwell options to replace O’Donnell
As the manager said, Marvin Kaleta performed very well in the right wing-back role against Rangers.
His pace allowed him to get up and down the wing and contribute in both a defensive and attacking sense and there was also a real desire and work ethic.
Another option would be summer signing Johnny Koutroumbis, who hasn’t featured all that much.
On him, Kettlewell said: “We’ve had very little game-time for Johnny Koutroumbis, so as much as you’ve seen him on our bench, he hasn’t been able to take part in a game just through circumstances, not having reserve games.
“We’ve got that in hand, we’re trying to take care of that element, going into the international break, trying to get him more match practice.
“Harry Paton will fall into the same category. He’s back fully training, so as much as we see that, we need to get minutes into their legs, whether that be bounce games, friendlies etc.
“Not having a ‘B’ team or a reserve team means having to be creative to get the minutes in their legs, and throwing these guys straight back in probably doesn’t do them any great favours, with the period of time they’ve been out.
“It’s OK after a week, 10 days, or maybe even two weeks, but with the amount of time they’ve been out, they definitely need minutes in the legs.”
