| The man who made his name as a player with Kilmarnock and Rangers, has already had a couple of sessions with Kelvin Jack and teenager Scott Murray and has agreed to make his Dens visits a permanent arrangement.
Stewart takes over the specialist job from another ex-international goalkeeper, Andy Goram.
And, when he returns from international duty after the games against Belarus and Slovenia, he can expect an increased workload with the return to full fitness of Derek Soutar.
For boss Alan Kernaghan, Soutar’s appearance in the friendly against Billingham Synthonia tomorrow will be a major feature of the two-day trip to the north-east of England.
“I’m looking forward to finally seeing ‘Soapy’ in action and, assuming Kelvin is OK when he returns from World Cup duty with Trinidad next week, it will be good to have two quality keepers competing for the first-team jersey,” said Alan just before the team bus headed for the border this afternoon.
The other big issue of the trip south will be the performance of Bournemouth winger Sean Hogan. He impressed at Dens last week and this trial game will give him the opportunity to earn a permanent move to the City of Discovery.
“If Sean does well, we could be offering him a contract. But, as everyone knows, money is tight here and there will be a few things to thrash out first,” added the manager.
Defender Tom Hutchinson’s departure from the wage bill may free up more cash, but the budget for signings remains tight.
One doubt for the trip to England was defender Callum Macdonald. He suffered a back spasm in training yesterday and any sign of the problem lingering would see him left at Dens for fear of his back stiffening up on the four-hour journey. |
