CROCK STARS HAND CELT SA BA YE RN BOOST:

ALAN ARCHIBALD has revealed Partick Thistle’s broken ankle victim Christie Elliott faces six months out.

The Jags boss reckons the loss of the full-back for the majority of this campaign is another blow on top of an increasing injury list – which can’t be laid at club physio Marcin Szostak’s door.

Christie suffered his fracture in a 3-0 loss at Motherwell during Partick’s last outing and Archibald admits another long-term casualty has been the story of their season so far.

He said: “Mustapha Dumbuya, Callum Booth and Abdul Osman are all out long term. Now Christie has had surgery and he’ll be four to six months because he has damaged ligaments as well. I can’t even slag our physio because there’s no muscle injuries or anything.”

Archibald says tomorrow’s basement clash with Killie has been a long time coming as he looks to claim a first win of the campaign.

He said: “It was a horrible international break, we were stewing on the loss to Well.”

ELGIN No.2 Gavin price has stepped up to become boss after doing a U-turn on joining ex-gaffer Jim Weir at Forfar.

Weir headed to Station Park last week and Price had agreed to join him after leading Elgin in their Irn-Bru Cup clash against New Saints. But he said: “The chairman came back from holiday and offered me the role.”