Tony Docherty has admitted that Seb Palmer-Houlden appears to have suffered a “significant” knee injury after the Bristol City loanee was forced off in Dundee’s defeat to Ross County last weekend.
Palmer-Houlden, who is yet to make a senior appearance for the Robins despite putting pen to paper on a new three-and-a-half-year contract 12 months ago, joined the Scottish side on loan last summer. In 26 Premiership appearances this season, the 20-year-old has managed to score five goals and lay on one assist in a Dundee side that currently sits second bottom of the table.
Having ended a four-game goalless run against Aberdeen, the young striker was handed his first Premiership start since January against Ross County on Saturday afternoon. While Dundee slipped to a fourth consecutive league defeat, their problems were further increased as Palmer-Houlden, Antonio Portales and Clark Robertson all picked up new injuries.
Although the exact severity of the City youngster’s injury has yet to be revealed, former Reds’ assistant manager Docherty admitted that on first reflection it didn’t look good.
“It’s disappointing,” the Dundee boss told The Courier. “Unfortunately, we’re in that situation again just as we seem to be getting players back. We just don’t seem to get any luck in terms of injuries.
“Seb Palmer-Holden has got a knee injury. It’s getting scanned tomorrow. Doesn’t look good. Looks like a significant injury. It’s the way he landed on it. Antonio Portales has injured his calf and Clark Robertson his hamstring. Antonio felt it in the warm-up but got checked out and assured us he was fine.
“It could be weeks before they are back. But, listen, there’s no culture here that we’ll be making excuses. It’s very much just to get on with it and make sure that we can recover. We’ve done it before, we’ll do it again. What I see is injuries to players presents opportunities to others.”
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Some City supporters were keen to see Liam Manning’s side bring Palmer-Houlden back to Ashton Gate in January to bolster the Robins’ striking options, particularly after Fally Mayulu joined Sturm Graz on loan. However, the Reds opted not to recall any of their young loanees as they were keen not to disrupt their development away from the West Country.
Dundee are next in action on Wednesday evening when they travel to Fir Park to face Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership. With the split approaching north of the border, it will take an impressive turnaround from Docherty’s side to climb into the top half of the table before the end of April.
Hopefully, following the full-time whistle at Fir Park, the Dundee boss will be able to provide another update on Palmer-Houlden’s condition and shed some further light on the exact severity of the forward’s knee injury.