Suffering injuries ahead of a game against Rangers is not the kind of news Derek McInnes wanted to hear.
 Kevin Rutkiewicz will have his work cut out to deal with the frustration of another knee injury that will see him sitting on the sidelines for another three months. This is the second knee injury of the season for the Perth captain, who caught his studs in the turf at training on Thursday morning. A scan later in the day revealed a partial tear of the medial ligament. His manager, boss Derek McInnes, thinks Rutkiewicz will find it "mentally hard" to cope with the situation. Rutkiewicz has only played six games this season after recovering from an injury to the same knee picked up 23 minutes into a friendly win over Cowdenbeath back in July. This was not the only worry for McInnes ahead of today's game against Rangers as he heard that striker Collin Samuel will have to undergo an exploratory operation to see the extent of the damage to a knee injury picked up last week against Kilmarnock. McInnes said: "I'm gutted for both lads, especially Kevin who will be out for longer and who worked so hard to get back from the injury in pre-season. It was towards the end of the training session and there was nobody near him but when he went down in pain we knew it was serious. It is the same knee Kevin injured in the pre-season game at Cowdenbeath but the tear is not in the same place and is not as big a tear as the original one. His knee might have been weakened from the first injury but nevertheless we are looking at two to three months. It's a huge blow for Kevin, who will find it hard mentally to deal with this so soon after coming back. It will be difficult for him, but he's a big character who played his part with pride in getting us up to the SPL. That's the ups and downs of being a footballer but we will try to keep him going. With Collin, we will need to see what is found when he is examined. But no players are more important than any others and someone else will get an opportunity against Rangers." McInnes' side take on Rangers who suffered Champions League defeat against Sevilla in Spain in midweek which emphasised the gap between the Ibrox club and the top teams in Europe. He said: "I think Rangers can take some positives from the game in midweek. And while it was hard work for them, they are used to playing in midweek and then again on Saturday. Rangers are strong at home and don't lose too many games there. But we will go to Ibrox with good heart and try and win the game. A point would be a positive result but it would be dangerous to go into the game with that mindset. We need to go with a belief and be brave enough to take the ball. If we can do that then I'm confident it will serve us well." |
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