Livingston boss David Martindale has revealed Bruce Anderson has suffered a slight setback in his return from injury leaving the striker a doubt for Saturday’s clash with Hibs.
Anderson was on the bench at the weekend following a quicker than expected recovery from an ankle injury sustained early last month.
And while the gaffer admits he’s desperate to see his star striker reach his target for the campaign, it won’t be at the risk of further injury.
Martindale, who missed the game after being hospitalised with kidney stones, says the plan was to bring the striker on against Aberdeen but the ex-Dons man felt a niggle during his warm-up.
Anderson has netted 11 league goals in his debut campaign for the Lions and is just one shy of matching Derek Lilley’s top flight record set nearly 20 years ago.
Speaking to the Courier, Martindale said: “I was on the phone to Marvin (Bartley, assistant manager) the whole time and passed the message on to get Bruce warmed up.
“But he’s done some of the warm-up and mentioned to the coaching staff that he’s felt a bit of pain in his ankle and tightness in his hamstring so we weren’t going to put him on after that.
“It’s a bonus he was back from injury and Bruce has personal and club targets that he wants to reach this season and I want to do everything I can to help him reach those - but not to the detriment of the club or player. I don’t want him missing the start of next season.”
He added: “At this point he’s a doubt for Saturday and we’ll just need to see how it goes with him between now and the end of the season.”
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