McNally only made his comeback in John McAulay’s testimonial at Arbroath last midweek and got his first 90 minutes in the reserves against Rangers yesterday.

Ideally, he would get another game or two before being considered for top-team action, but, with injuries cutting into his already small squad, boss Jim Duffy has admitted it could be a case of all hands to the pumps.

“I have not decided on anything yet and we will have to see how Stephen is over the next couple of days, but, right now, I’d say he has a chance of being involved at the weekend,” he said.

“He is bound to be a bit stiff after getting 90 minutes yesterday — we didn’t intend leaving him on for that long, but he felt fine so we let him have the whole game — but if he is OK in a couple of days I might consider him. If Brent was to be missing as well as Lee, we would be short on defensive cover and that might mean him getting a place on the bench. It’s maybe not ideal, but these things happen in football.”

Jim confirmed today that Brazilian attacker Alex Cerdeira has left Dens. Signed last year on a short-term contract until the end of the season, Cerdeira struggled to make an impact and had also been hampered by a niggling knee problem.

“Alex had already returned to Brazil once to try to get his injury sorted. He was still a long way from full fitness and, because of the likes of Steve Lovell, Tom McManus and John Sutton, was a long way down the pecking order. Due to that, I felt it was better to let him go now and let him try to find another club, rather than wait until his contract was up in the summer. It’s unfortunate for the boy that things have not worked out here, but he goes with our best wishes.”

Dundee have around 1000 of their tickets for Saturday remaining, but, with business still brisk at Dundee Direct, they could sell out in the next few days.

For the rest of the week, the ticket office will be opening at 9.30 am, will remain open to 6 pm on Thursday and, should there been any tickets left on Saturday, sales will end at noon.

“I just do not have a big enough squad to take any chances, so it’s is a very young team. Nick Colgan went down because he has not had a game for a couple of weeks, while James Grady and Billy Dodds were on the bus as well to help out,” he said.

“Those three apart, it was a young squad and that will be the case for most of the remaining games for the reserves. That’s not a problem, because, at this time of the season, you want to make room for younger players.”

While he is taking no chances, Gordon does expect the injured trio to recover in time to be listed for selection against Dundee at Dens Park on Saturday.

“Jason did not train today because of his knee knock, but I think it will clear. Derek and ‘Sammy’ were able to do light work, so I think they should be OK,” he added.

On the subject of the derby, the Tangerines have now sold all their 4300 or so tickets.

The ticket allocation for the Tennent’s Scottish Cup Final clash with Celtic next month has also been decided by the SFA, with United receiving up to a maximum of 16,800 seats.

If all goes to plan, these will go on sale on May 5, and fans are being urged to buy early to ensure that everyone who wants to be at Hampden on the big day can get a ticket.

In keeping with SFA policy for recent finals, the tickets will be sold section by section and, if it becomes apparent that United are not selling their entire allocation, some sections could be transferred to Celtic supporters.

There is confidence at Tannadice, however, that most — if not all — will be snapped up by fans from this side of the country.

“This is a thank you to season ticket holders for their support and also an effort to encourage more people to come along on a regular basis next season,” said Saints managing director Stewart Duff.

Signs are already there that fans are returning to McDiarmid Park. With new team boss Owen Coyle in charge, Saints’ home crowd for last Saturday’s game against Airdrie United was 400-plus up on the previous McDiarmid gate.