CAPTAIN MacKAY SIDELINED FOR FOUR MONTHS

Saints captain Dave Mackay faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines as he seeks to overcome a problematic hip injury.

The 35 year old has been nursing the problem for a lengthy period of time but time has run out on not addressing the issue and he will undergo surgery in England at the end of the week.

He will miss the remaining two matches of the season – he will be suspended for the final match at Pittodrie in any case – but will miss the best part of the opening two months of next season.

Manager Tommy Wright says: “This has been on the cards for a long time now and it was just a case of timing. There is a four month recovery period so we had to decide when was best in terms of the end of this campaign, the start of next and also when the surgery was available.

“He’ll be missed but will come back stronger and we have decent defensive cover for these last two matches of the season, the second of which he would have missed anyway after his booking at the weekend.”