East Kilbride Thistle boss Russell Craig says the Jags will rally around Scott Hadden after his latest knee injury.
The 33-year-old’s comeback trail pursuit after an almost year-long battle was ended after 10 minutes into his return.
He twisted his knee during a 3-1 win over Vale of Leven earlier this at the Showpark and had to be carried off before receiving treatment.
Craig’s side are back in West of Scotland Football League Conference C action this weekend after a tough Kilmarnock Pie Cup outing against Premier Division side Glenafton Athletic, suffering a 6-1 defeat.
Losing Hadden is damaging but the EK co-boss is hopeful that the midfielder’s previous experience with a knee injury can help him return from this latest setback.
He said: “It’s a blow. I am scunnered for the boy. He’s worked so hard on his fitness to get back and he’s been doing lots of work in the gym to get ready for a comeback.
“He gets 10 minutes into the game and does that. It wasn’t good news.
“We were hoping that by bringing him in towards the end of the season, we could get him ready for next season by bleeding him into the games gradually.
“He was happy with that and we were happy with that. Then what happened was a bit of a sucker punch for him. It wasn’t nice at all.
“We’ve got to make sure we are there for him. He knows he can talk to us and there is a whole network of people he is able to call upon
“ I don’t think he will be left on his own but he’s a strong willed boy. He’s experienced it before so he knows what he’s going through and that there is an end goal there.”
Larkhall Thistle come to the Showpark this Saturday before Craig’s side finish off their term with matches against St Roch’s and Vale of Clyde.
Russell believes that a 1-0 defeat to third-placed Neilston on April 2 provides a performance template for his team to build from against Larkhall.
He added on his 11th-placed club: “I think the performance against Neilston was perhaps better than the Vale of Leven game, or equally as good.
“Our last league game we were a bit scruffy at times and we can be a lot better than that. I think that frustrated us a bit and it has been a frustration all season.
“There’s been games where we just haven’t turned up. They know they can play better football than that, but they just need to have a bit more belief.”
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