| Outstanding since his arrival in the summer, the big Czech centre-half limped off early in the second half of Saturday’s defeat at Hamilton with a hamstring strain.
And boss Alex Rae has admitted that, had there been a fixture this week, Palenik would have been struggling.
“We are still assessing the extent of the problem, but if we’d been playing this Saturday he would have been touch and go at the very least,” said Alex.
“We are still hopeful he will have recovered by next week, though, right now, I can’t even say that for certain. He’s been doing well, so it will be a boost if we have him back for the next game.”
It is also hoped that full-back David Worrell will be back in contention to face Livingston on Saturday week after missing the clashes against Morton and Accies because of the hamstring he hurt in the CIS Cup against Celtic.
While they are getting treatment at Dens, a strong squad was heading for Glasgow this afternoon and a closed-door friendly against Celtic.
Derek Lyle, Jani Sturm, Bob Davidson, Danny Griffin and the manager were all stripped for that one.
“There were a few of us who could do with a game, so we were more than happy to get one fixed up against that standard of opposition,” added Alex.
On Thursday, he will be heading for Easter Road to watch Kevin McDonald and possibly Paul Dixon in action for the Scotland U/21s in the Euro qualifier against Lithuania.
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