Hamilton Accies defender a major doubt for Ayr United clash

Hamilton Accies defender Dylan McGowan is a major doubt for their big clash at home to Ayr United this weekend.

The New Douglas Park side are fighting for survival at the foot of the Championship table and hold a slender one point lead over bottom side Arbroath, whilst sitting just a point behind eighth-place Cove Rangers, with a game in hand.

Australian centre-back McGowan missed their 0-0 draw with Arbroath on March 3 after hobbling off early on in a 4-1 defeat to Queen's Park on February 25 with a calf issue.

With a week off due to Scottish Cup action last weekend, Accies boss John Rankin was hopeful of having his star defender, who is on-loan from Kilmarnock, fighting fit for the visit of the Honest Men this weekend.

But he has revealed the 31-year-old hasn't trained since the day before he picked up his injury and his involvement on Saturday is now in doubt.

Rankin told Lanarkshire Live Sport: "Last week was a chance to rest a few because we had a few with knocks who missed training, but most guys trained the latter part of last week.

"Lewis Smith came back after struggling with his hamstring before the Arbroath game. He has been back in training but Dylan is the one who still remains out and is a doubt for Saturday.

"Dylan hasn't trained since the day before the Queen's Park game.

"It was his calf that he felt at the time. He felt a twinge.

"In football you never know what can happen because people react differently to things and recover quicker.

"We are still hopeful but he hasn't trained so we'll need to wait and see."

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