Derek McInnes hopes Shay Logan may yet have a part to play for Aberdeen this season despite being rushed in for ankle surgery.
The right-back limped off against Queen of the South earlier this month and it was feared he might miss the remainder of the campaign after being told he had to go under the knife.
Dons boss McInnes has confirmed he is still looking to bring in a free agent for defensive cover after the 31-year-old was joined on the casualty list by Tommie Hoban.
But while Hoban has definitely played his final game this term, McInnes has been boosted by the news from Logan's surgeons that the former Brentford defender could be back in action by mid-April if his rehab goes to plan.
McInnes said: "Shay has had his operation now. We didn't want to waste any time. The surgeon was good enough to move things about and get him in sharp.
"Basically the diagnosis was as we expected. There wasn't too much getting done but we had to resolve the tendon issue.
"We're hoping that he can be back in the best case within eight weeks. Worst case it will be 12 weeks.
"Shay has always been quite a good healer, he's not had too many injuries here but whenever he has had the odd little things he's always healed quickly.
"Hopefully that's the case in this instance as it would be good to have him back before the end of the season. Over the five years he has been here he's played a considerable amount of games and we've been very fortunate to have him. Hopefully, we'll have him back soon."
Dom Ball is likely to start at right-back when Hamilton travel north on Wednesday night after shaking off a back strain to help McInnes' side beat St Johnstone at the weekend.
Accies will be sore after their 5-0 pasting from Rangers on Sunday but their manager Brian Rice has won McInnes' admiration for sending his team out to attack the Light Blues.
"Brian is clearly wanting to make the most of his opportunity in management," said the Pittodrie chief.
"He's been very positive with his talk and his line-ups – and good on him. A lot of the time when you're in a relegation battle you go the other way.
"However, he's setting out to win games rather than hoping to. Sometimes fortune favours the brave and it's quite refreshing to see."
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