Livingston defender Tom Parkes facing long spell out after injury setback

Livingston fear defender Tom Parkes could miss the bulk of the season.

The 30-year-old underwent knee surgery towards the end of last season but his comeback attempts have been hit by a major setback in pre-season.

Manager David Martindale said: “We got a bit of bad news on Tom Parkes. Tom Parkes is probably going to have to go and get a second op, he is potentially six to nine months away.

“It’s a killer for the club but on a personal level it’s devastating for Tom. He has worked so hard.”

Parkes has only played 11 times for Livi since joining them 12 months ago with his most recent game coming in December.

But Martindale saw enough in that injury-hit debut campaign to realise the former Bristol Rovers and Exeter player could be a major asset.

“He’s an old-school centre-half, he does what I want centre-halves to do, go and win your aerial duels and he defends his 18-yard box,” said Martindale, whose team open their cinch Premiership campaign at home to Rangers on Saturday.

“His use of the ball and his game-management is very good, and he is a talker.

“Getting boys to take leadership and ownership and talk on the park, I’m finding it a dying breed, having these on-field leaders in terms of being vocal, and Parksey is very, very vocal on the park.

“I’ve got a lot of time for Parksey, I just need him on the park, but obviously that’s not going to happen in the near future.”

Livi otherwise only have Morgan Boyes missing and Martindale has a much more settled squad than he did 12 months ago when his side opened the season with a 3-0 defeat at Ibrox.

Rangers have yet to play a competitive game while Livi qualified for the second round of the Premier Sports Cup but Martindale is not sure it is necessarily a good time to face