Crawford injury blow leaves Accies short

HAMILTON Ali Crawford will miss the first Lanarkshire derby of the season after suffering a knee injury in training.

Hamilton manager Martin Canningfacesaninjurycrisis after revealing the midfielder will miss a couple of weeks with the problem.

Accies were already without five first-team players due to injury, and Antonio Rojano is likely to miss out again this weekend against Motherwell as he waits for a work permit, leaving Canning to bemoan his bad luck.

“Ali joins the [injury] list,” he said. “He won’t make the game but hopefully that’s it [in terms of further injuries], but the way things are going I wouldn’t bet on it!

“It was a blocked tackle in training and he just opened the inside of his knee a little bit so he will be a few weeks out. It just seems that every wee thing turns into a big one [injury].

“Gary Woods, Michael Devlin, George Saris, Grant Gillespie, Ali Crawford and David Templeton are all big players for us.

“It’s not as if they are squad players, they’re all guys who would probably start if they were fit, but it’s a chance for six guys to come into the team and make sure they take their opportunities.”