St Mirren’s Mark O’Hara to Miss Up to Six Weeks with Thigh Injury, Manager Relieved It’s Not Season-Ending

St Mirren captain Mark O’Hara is expected to be sidelined for as long as six weeks due to a recurring thigh problem. However, manager Stephen Robinson expressed relief that the midfielder’s absence will not extend for the entire season. O’Hara sustained the injury last week while missing a stoppage-time penalty during the team’s 3-2 victory against St Johnstone. Robinson noted a number of injury concerns ahead of Saturday’s away game against Ross County, stating: “It’s been a challenging week.” He elaborated on the team’s fitness issues: “Ellery (Balcombe) hasn’t trained all week with a knee issue. We’ll have to assess him today.” He added, “Scott Tanser hasn’t trained all week. Richard Taylor got stretchered off last week, but he isn’t quite as bad as we first feared. But again, he hasn’t trained, so we need to look at Richard and Scott today.” Regarding Evan Mooney, Robinson mentioned, “Evan Mooney took a knock to his ankle yesterday in training, but we’re hoping he will be OK.” He also highlighted Conor McMenamin’s condition: “Conor McMenamin looks like he could be struggling with a kick from last Saturday, which he carried on with. But it’s really played him up this week.” Reconfirming O’Hara’s situation, Robinson stated: “Mark is going to be four to six weeks, we believe, after having a scan, which, again, isn’t quite as bad as we first feared. We thought it might be for the season.” He further described O’Hara’s injury as: “It’s been a reoccurring injury for Mark, which is really, really frustrating. It’s a big blow and for Mark personally, it’s been number of times that he’s had this issue since his Motherwell days.” Robinson anticipates a difficult match when the sixth-place Saints travel to face a County team known for performing strongly at home. He commented on the challenge: “You see even the top sides go and struggle there so we know what we will be up against,” adding, “It’s forecast not to be a nice day either. So we have to go with the mentality that we win at all costs.”