McKeown has missed most of the pre-season with a groin problem, a groin strain ruled Lauchlan out of Saturday’s Challenge Cup defeat at Alloa and a hamstring injury forced MacKenzie off.

Already the manager knows McKeown will not be ready for the weekend and he could give no guarantees about the other two.

“Craig has been making progress and we hope to get him back in with the rest of the squad at some stage, but he is not going to be playing this week,” said Alex.

“With Jim and Gary, it is a question of assessing the injuries and taking things from there, but this isn’t something you want just before your first league game.”

Neither was a cup defeat at a team from a lower division and Alex did not hide his disappointment at the 2-1 weekend reversal.

“On reflection, we created enough chances to win easily and that is a positive, but I was not happy with the performance. We wanted to start the season well and the aim is to go as far as possible in all the competitions, so this was a disappointment.”

His squad for this Saturday will at least be bolstered by the availability of vastly-experienced summer signings Rab Douglas and Colin Cameron. Contractual matters with their former clubs in England means their registration as Dundee players will not be completed until Friday, August 1, and that prevented them turning out at Alloa.