St Mirren suffer major injury blow on eve of key Hibs match

Tony Watt could miss the rest of the season after hurting his ankle in training.

The 29-year-old striker has made 11 appearances and scored once for the Buddies since joining on loan from cinch Premiership rivals Dundee United in January. Ahead of the trip to Easter Road to play Hibernian on Saturday, St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson revealed Watt is to have a scan and admitted his concern about the Scotland cap for the five post-split fixtures.

The Northern Irishman said: “We had an injury to Tony Watt in training yesterday so he is not going to be available for Saturday. He went over on it. It was innocuous, just two players came together and he went over the wrong way but we are quite concerned about it at the moment He is having scans on his ankle today. Obviously we spoke to Dundee United, who own Tony, and we will have the results today and see where we go with it, but we are quite worried about it at the moment.”

Asked whether it was likely Watt could miss the rest of the campaign, Robinson said: “Potentially, yes. Obviously it’s hard to say without the scans but, on the initial look at it, the medical team weren’t too happy with it. It reduces our options in the forward areas, with Jonah (Ayunga) already injured, but we have people who have stepped in and done really well before. Alex Greive, young Lewis Jamieson and Greg Kiltie can play in those areas of the pitch as well. It is something we are dealing with and we won’t use it as an excuse.”