Watkins may not play for Dons again, says McInnes

Derek McInnes admits there are no guarantees Marley Watkins will be seen in an Aberdeen shirt again.

The on-loan Bristol City forward, pictured, has been ruled out for up to twoanda- half months after suffering a significant hamstring injury in a collision with Scott Brown during Sunday’s William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final defeat to Celtic.

Watkins–whose Pittodrie stint expires on January 31 – is now on his way back to Ashton Gate to have his injury assessed.

McInnes would be keen to extend his loan deal but acknowledged there was a decent chance the 30-yearold former Inverness player might not be back.

“Marley is still with us now but he will go down to Bristol City tomorrow and the y will assess him,” explained the Dons boss.

“But there is a feeling he will need surgery– and that will be their decision once they get a second opinion based on the scan results.

“We think he will be out for the best part of eight to 10 weeks so that makes it tough for Marley to come back anytime within his loan period.

“It’s not insurmountable but we obviously need to wait and see what that second opinion says.

“It’s a real blow for us. I thought it would be a risky outcome because his leg sort of jack-knifed on the impact and you could see immediately he was in distress and unfortunately for us he’s going to be out for a period of time.

“We’ve got a couple of months now to look at (extending his loan).

“I’d love to work with Marley again but there’s a lot of factors involved. I think he has really enjoyed it and he’s been a key player for us.”

McInnes will also be without Dylan McGeough and Jonny Hayes for tonight’s visit of Hibernian but the good news for the Aberdeen manager is that the groin injury which kept Hayes out of their Hampden defeat is not as bad as first feared.

Meanwhile, Hibs head coach Jack Ross admits he is amazed by the strength of character Kevin Nisbet has shown in dealing with the pain of his father’s death.

It was revealed earlier this week that the Hibernian forward had chosen to play in last Saturday’s William Hill Scottish Cup semi- final against city rivals Hearts just days after his dad Thomas had succumbed to terminal liver cancer.

Ross said: “I’ve got 20 years on Kevin and those years teach you things. How I would have coped at his age, I don’t know.

“So that fact he’s been able to deal with it and still produce those performances is testament to his strength of character.”

Tonight’s other game sees Ross County host Livingston.