'It's unheard of' - Gary Naysmith on Stenhousemuir's injury woes after Queen of the South draw

The Warriors bounced back from a 3-0 Scottish League One defeat at Montrose the previous weekend to pick up a solid point against the full-timers at Ochilview Park, but it came at a cost with Kyle Jacobs, Aaron Steele, Euan O’Reilly and Ross Taylor all picking up injuries.

"That was one of the most challenging games I have had throughout my career as a manager and as a player,” former Scotland full-back Naysmith said. “I’ve managed hundreds of football matches but I have never been in a situation where you have hit 55 minutes and you have been forced to make four subs due to injuries.

“You couldn’t focus on trying to win the game. You couldn’t make subs with the focus of ‘how we do we affect the game to win it?’ but instead you are just trying to managed the situation as best you can.

“Kyle (Jacobs) has come off really early with what looks like a hamstring problem. Then at half time we are forced to take off Aaron Steele and Euan O’Reilly who had a really bad gash.

“Ross Taylor then has a muscle injury and he has had to come off ten minutes or so in the second half. I’ve never experienced anything like it.

“In the end it was an outstanding point. The players deserve a huge amount of credit for coming through the game and getting something on board against a really good Queens side.”

New loan signing Scott Tomlinson, who joined from Scott Brown’s Ayr United last Friday, was thrown on for his debut at half time despite having only just met his team-mates a couple of hours earlier.

And Naysmith says the 19-year-old will bring raw pace to the Warriors’ attack going forward ahead of this Saturday’s trip to Inverness Caley Thistle.

“Scott is another threat in the attacking third for us,” he said. “His biggest asset is his pace. I always look for that in attacking positions and he will be a good addition to our group.

“He only really met the guys on the Saturday morning but he came on at the break and did well. It was a tough situation to come into."

On the trip to Duncan Ferguson’s side, the boss added: “It is just too early to know what the squad will look like. I can’t prepare a team – we will need to work a shape round what we have available on the day. We are hoping that a couple make it but we simply don’t yet.

“We’ll give players right up until the end of the week. We’ll need to not put too many square pegs in round holes.”