CRAIG Hignett has been ruled out of Saturday's clash with his old club Crewe Alexandra.

The £2.25m signing from Barnsley is making slow progress in recovering from an Achilles problem.

And the situation is now starting to cause manager Graeme Souness some concern.

"It's turning into a bit of a nightmare," said Souness.

"He's not progressing as quickly as we thought which is a real blow.

"But there's not much we can do about it, we've got to let nature take it's course."