Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes admits he will need to patch his team up again ahead of their Betfred Cup clash with St Mirren.
The Dons had Niall McGinn back among the substitutes for Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Hamilton but were still missing eight players and none of them are likely to make it back for Saturday evening’s clash in Paisley.
Dean Campbell and Curtis Main made their first starts for several months following injury lay-offs while Funso Ojo played his second full game in four days having not started a match for two months.
Greg Leigh, Sam Cosgrove and Matty Kennedy are also recently back from injury and McInnes admits he is asking a lot of some players.
The second-round encounter against St Mirren will be a third trip down to the west of Scotland inside seven days and McInnes said: “We are just trying to navigate the situation at the minute.
“We have a cup game to try and get through and then we start to get some players back.
“Hopefully Jonny (Hayes) will be back after that, for the league game against St Mirren. Hopefully we will have Lewis Ferguson and Connor McLennan back for the league game.
“But for the cup game we just need to try and patch these boys up again. It will be three games in six days for a lot of boys who have not had a lot of football of late.
“A lot of these boys haven’t been first pick and because of the lack of game time there is a concern there that they can get through that intensity that is required to get wins against Premiership opposition. But they are certainly giving it a right good go.
“There were some good performances, young Campbell and Ojo in the middle of the park were very good. Cosgrove is working his way back to full fitness and is such an important player for us. And Main and Kennedy had good moments in the game as well.
“There’s a few boys who have not been playing a lot of late but hopefully they will be better for having had the two games.”
