Lee Johnson has provided an update on Kevin Nisbet and Martin Boyle after the latter got his dream Australia World Cup call-up.
The 29-year-old missed the big defeat at Aberdeen last time out following injury and it has now been revealed he likely won't feature in tonight's clash with Ross County or the weekend showdown with Kilmarnock before the Premiership shuts down for Qatar 2022. Boyle had initial fears over an injury picked up against St Mirren and he faced a wait an anxious wait but it is highly unlikely he will now be risked ahead of the finals, especially with one match on the Astroturf at Rugby Park.
The Socceroos are in a group section with France, Denmark and Tunisia and Easter Road boss Johnson will leave the decision up to Boyle over his involvement in those fixtures. He has 'absolute' trust in his summer recruit and fans' favourite to make the decision for himself. He said: “It looks positive. He’s in good spirits. We’ve probably had to make the decision that he is not going to be fit for the next two games and therefore there’s a handover that goes to the Australian medical team in conjunction with ours to give them the option to select him for the World Cup.
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“It’s the best case scenario from the scan results and the medical prognosis which is great. We wish him all the best but we’ve a couple of days with him where he can be important to us off the pitch. If the World Cup wasn’t on the horizon he still wouldn’t have played these two games. Especially because of the astro.
“I’m happy to leave it up to Martin. I trust him absolutely. There’s pain and the there’s risk of making injury worse, there’s a difference there.
“Pain can be managed sometimes by injections sometimes mentally but if a player feels that by risking this it’s going to affect his medium or long term future then we’ve had that conversation and we are of the same opinion that if that’s the case it’s a no go. I don’t think it will be though. I think he will be ok.
“We all have a positive outlook on it. He’s not twisted and turned and used that scampering pace he has yet. But every sign in terms of in the gym etc has been positive that he will make a full and swift recovery.”
On Nisbet, he added: “Nizzy is a bit of a dilemma for me. I think I could have had him on the bench for a half-hour cameo against Ross County, I really do.
"But I’m not going to do that. The next game is on Astro, and with the difference between seven-and-a-half months and eight-and-a-half months of the recurrence rate of an ACL injury with no game, it is a bit of a risk and he’s too important.
“He’s not played a minute behind closed doors, or any reserve or development matches. This game is important and I can see a scenario where we are drawing and we could use his quality in terms of his touch and his finish. I made a decision to play Martin Boyle against Hearts with no pre-season, but in this decision I’m going to elongate his time to come back fine.
"Kevin has been good as gold. He’s sensible enough. The boys have eight or nine days off but he doesn’t want any time off.
"He wants to be worked so he can come into the next period flying. That’s a great attitude. It’s a good natural break for us and for him. It will be like a mini preseason for him. It’s perfect timing for him going into the Rangers game as a potential starter. I don’t see any reason why that’s not a possibility.”
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