The Scotland striker missed the trip to Arsenal on Saturday after breaking a metacarpal bone in his hand on Scotland duty last Monday.

It was thought the 11-goal top-scorer would be fit to face the Gunners, with a lightweight cast on his wrist.

And Laws said: "I'd have liked to have seen Fletch out there on Saturday but he broke his hand in midweek at a Scotland training camp.

"We're going to have to wait and see if he's going to be fit for Wednesday. That's the bigger picture.

"He can do the mechanical work but we've got to make sure his hand's right. The good thing is we can leave it until the last minute.

"We know everything else about him is fine.
"He's got to be mentally right for this because it's going to be physical game as well."

Laws also hopes to have Chris McCann available again sooner rather than later after persistent knee trouble: "Chris has still not got a game under his belt so it's hard to tell, although he is training on the training ground.

"He's got a bit of bone bruising and you have to let nature take its course.

"Until it changes we'll be patient with it because he's a good player for this football club and the sooner we get him back the better."

Graham Alexander, after five games out with a torn calf, returned at Arsenal, and his withdrawal in the latter stages was merely tactical: "Graham played 70 minutes in the reserves during the week and I just thought he had done reasonably well.

"But he's been out for so long, when we're out of possession there's a lot of work to be done there.

"It will have done him the world of good, make no mistake about it, to get a few more minutes under his belt. It will take him into his next game more positively and much fitter as well.

"We had a bit of freshness and I thought that's where we started to look a bit brighter as well."