Injury blow for Raith Rovers as Spencer ruled out for three months

The midfielder has broken a bone in his calf and it could take up to 12 weeks before he is able to return to action.

Rovers boss John McGlynn said he was "gutted” for the 25-year-old who has been a key element in his side’s excellent form this season.

“He's got a broken fibula and is going to be out for some time,” he said.

“He's got a moon boot on which he will have to wear for six to eight weeks.

“After that we'll see how it's been healing and that will then determine how quickly he will come back.

“We're probably looking at roughly 12 weeks that he'll be out for.

“It's a massive blow. We really missed him up at Inverness. He was out for that game because he had turned his ankle in the Falkirk game.

“It's a massive blow for him personally because he's been having a really good season.

"He's been excellent and I'm gutted for him.

“But when one door closes another opens so it's up to somebody else to come in for him.

“Aidan Connolly was out last weekend, hopefully he's going to be available for the Kilmarnock game.”

He added: “It's the usual for the Rovers. You gain one then you lose one.”

The 0-0 draw at Gayfield last Saturday saw Rovers drop down to second place, just a point behind leaders Inverness, with the battle at the top of the Championship table intensifying as the teams reach the halfway point of the season.

The league has now split in two with only three points separating the top five teams and a 12-point gap between fifth and sixth, but McGlynn says it’s still possible for one of the lower teams to catch up.

“When you get to the halfway stage everyone's played each other home and away and it should give you a little bit of a pattern,” he says, “however it can change.

“It would take a team to go on a particularly good run and for a team at the top to falter a little bit.

“At this time last year Queen of the South were near the bottom as were Arbroath and they both went on great runs and right up to the end of the season were near to getting into the play-offs.

“Anything can happen, but we just have to concentrate on ourselves and make sure we stay up in one of the top four positions.

“It would be good to get a few wins in a row and try to break away.

“It's very tight at the top. We've been playing consistently for the most part and we're on a 14-game unbeaten run but it's not as if we're miles ahead in the league.

"Teams are dropping points to each other. Top can lose to bottom.”

“We had an opportunity at the weekend there to go clear at the top of the league and I'm sure we'll get others.”

One of those opportunities will present itself this weekend when second-placed Raith welcome Kilmarnock who are sat in third to Stark’s Park.

Elsewhere leaders Inverness will travel to Greenock to play Morton while points will be dropped as the fourth and fifth placed sides Partick Thistle and Arbroath battle it out in Glasgow, all adding to the chances of Rovers sitting clear at the top of the table after Saturday’s fixtures.

McGlynn says he’s looking forward to meeting Tommy Wright’s side again and is hoping for a repeat of the 3-1 win at Rugby park back at the beginning of October.

“Killie are the league favourites but it's quite a difficult job for Tommy Wright there,” he said.

“It's all very well getting the league's biggest budget but he had to bring in almost a whole new team. It was only really Rory McKenzie and Chris Burke that stayed from last year.

“So he has to try and make sure that all the new players fit in and understand what they're doing and that doesn't happen overnight.

“Sometimes you don't know if you've got it right or not. It may be that he has to go and spend some more money in January.

“However, their away record is excellent although they got beaten up at Inverness last Friday.

“They'll want to come back from that and we'll be wanting to keep our unbeaten run going.”

He added: “It's all adding up to what should be a really good and exciting game.”