Jags Lose Fraser Fraser To Knee Injury

Photo by Jeff Holmes Partick boss Alan Archibald admits losing Gary Fraser for up to three months is a major blow to his plans for Saturday's clash with table-topping Inverness. The former Bolton midfielder went to see a surgeon last week after complaining about a mystery pain in his knee. The 20-year-old was stunned to discover he had been playing with a fractured joint. He will now be ruled out until the festive period, leaving Archibald to rue his luck. "We've just found out that Gary Fraser is going to be out for six to 12 weeks with a knee injury," said the Jags manager. "He had been feeling his knee a day or two after games, even when he had come through a (full) 90 minutes. "So we got him booked in to see a surgeon on the Monday after the Aberdeen game and they found that he had a small fracture in his knee. "They say he will be out for anything between six weeks and three months. The good news, though, is that he doesn't need surgery. "But it is still a massive blow to lose any player for that length of time, especially Gary considering the way he has started the season. He has done ever so well and has been one of our best players, so it is a sore one." The Firhill side's started the season on fire as they roasted Ross County with a 4-0 opening-day drubbing. But defeats to Hamilton and Aberdeen have taken the shine off that sparkling start. Now Archibald wants to finally put a dent in Caley Thistle's unbeaten run and turn his side's fortunes around. He said: "It doesn't come much harder than Inverness at the moment. "They have started extremely well by going unbeaten and are playing some good football under John. "You can see they are a John Hughes side by the way they are knocking the ball about. "We've had an okay start to the season but the Hamilton result was the biggest disappointment. "We've also gone to Aberdeen and lost so we need to try and turn it around. There's not a better time to do it than against the league leaders."