“Mark, especially, has been constantly in action having had Scotland U/21 duties to undertake, so it seems an ideal time to let him lay off a bit.”

Turning his attention to Saturday’s home SPL encounter with Livingston, Gordon described the game as “massive”.

“We’re totally focused on Saturday’s game and everyone at the club knows what is at stake,” he continued.

“This game is massive for us, as it is for Livi.”

Derek McInnes took a knock to a knee during yesterday’s SPL Reserve League encounter with Hearts at Station Park, Forfar, and may have to go for a scan once the swelling has settled down.

David McCracken came through the encounter unscathed, and he is in the first-team squad for the weekend.

The towering central defender played the full 90 minutes in the 3-0 defeat, as did other first-team men Billy Dodds, Jason Scotland and James Grady.

The Tannadice side’s game with Dunfermline has been switched to Sunday, May 15.

Both United and Dundee (v. Inverness CT) were allocated home games for the Saturday. The SPL drew lots yesterday and the Dark Blues came up trumps.

Meanwhile, United have been allocated 4100 tickets for the derby at Dens Park a week on Saturday.

Tickets will go on sale to United season ticket holders tomorrow, and on general sale from Saturday. Tickets are priced at £22 for adults and £12 for concessions (U/18 and Over-60). Concessions are available only for the Main Stand. United season ticket holders will require voucher 29 to obtain a cup final priority ticket.

“We’ve had a really heavy schedule recently and a lot of commitments,” said general manager Gordon Wallace.

“First-team players Barry Smith and Iain Anderson played for 45 minutes and came through OK.

“We had planned to play John Sutton for just an hour, but young Scott Robertson picked up a leg injury, so he had to come off and big John played out the game.

“In the later stages of the game, another injury meant that the manager had to go on.”

Norwegian striker Glenn Larsen also got a run-out, and Gordon was also delighted with the return to action of defender Stephen McNally.

“We gave him an hour and he did well,” continued Gordon. “He’s been out for a long time and he will probably feel a bit sore this morning.”

Sutton was on target for the Dee in last night’s game, but Arbroath gave John McAulay a night to remember by winning 3-1 with goals by Gavin Swankie, Iain Diack and Alan Brazil.

Meanwhile, Glenn Hoddle will bring his Wolves side to Dundee to compete for the City Of Discovery Cup on the weekend of July 23-24. The two Dundee clubs and Paul Sturrock’s Sheffield Wednesday are the other teams taking part.