Ross County's Richie Brittain allays serious injury fears

Ross County captain Richie Brittain hopes to be fit for pre-season training after damaging his knee.

The 29-year-old midfielder was stretchered off during Sunday's 2-0 loss to Motherwell.

But Brittain tweeted on Tuesday evening: "Injury is not as bad as I initially thought thank god. I'll be fit and ready to go for pre season."

However, it remains unclear where he will be, with Brittain hoping to renege on a deal to join St Johnstone.

The midfielder, who scored 10 goals this season, wants to cancel the pre-contract arrangement he made with the Perth club in January.

The player has cited personal reasons for the U-turn but St Johnstone say they expect him to honour the deal.

County manager Derek Adams expects Brittain to be out of action for up to eight weeks and says it is up to the player to resolve his dispute with Saints.

Adams is targeting a fourth-place finish in County's first Scottish Premier League season

Meanwhile, Adams is looking forward to a "great occasion" on Sunday when his side finish their Scottish Premier League season against Highland rivals Inverness.

Though the Dingwall side cannot reach third place and a European spot, they can overtake St Johnstone and finish fourth.

However Saints, who host Motherwell, are hoping to pip Inverness to third place.

"Inverness are trying to finish in Europe and so are St Johnstone," said Adams. "There's a lot riding on this match and the St Johnstone game.

"We want to win the match and we're hopeful that St Johnstone lose their match and we can go above them. It'll be an entertaining match and it'll be end-to-end."

Adams is also planning for next season but does not expect any signings to be confirmed until after the season ends.

"We'll take players in over the summer, we'll re-sign players," he explained.

"We're talking to players at this moment in time but nothing will happen until into the summer. Recruiting players is always a big aspect of this football club and we'll continue to do that.

"I think we'll get an improved budget from this year. We've done well, we've finished in the top six. We'll definitely get more money than last year."