Dundee new boy Pat Clarke’s chances of being involved against Raith Rovers on Saturday have suffered a setback (writes Graeme Finnan).
The attacker picked up a groin injury in yesterday’s game against Scotland Under-21s.
However, Dark Blues boss Jocky Scott refused to rule the former Clyde man out of the weekend trip to Fife.
“We’ll see how Pat is feeling before we make a decision on whether or not to include him at Raith,” said Jocky.
Meanwhile, the manager had no other injuries to report from yesterday’s 90 minutes and, despite the 2-0 loss, felt it was a worthwhile workout.
“It was a good exercise. The game was played at a good tempo and it allowed us to give the lads who didn’t play against Morton the chance to get 90 minutes under their belts.”
Dens striker Leigh Griffiths was a substitute for Billy Stark’s young Scots and featured for the last 30 minutes with no apparent problems following his calf injury.
Craig waits
Dundee United boss Craig Levein was still waiting to see if any of his injured players were fit enough to return to training (writes Graeme Finnan).
A cluster of first-team men have been receiving treatment and, although the season opener against Hearts isn’t until Monday, the manager is keen to see them back on the training ground.
Andy Webster, Danny Cadamarteri and David Goodwillie are giving cause for most concern, while Andis Shala has also missed out recently.
“We are just waiting to hear from the physio how these lads are, but, hopefully, they’ll be back sooner rather than later,” said Craig.
United’s Under-19 side were in action against their Dundee counterparts this afternoon.
Grainger praise
St Johnstone boss Derek McInnes is delighted with the form shown by left-back Danny Grainger (writes James Masson).
The former Gretna and Brechin City defender was snapped up in the close season from Dundee United, and Derek said, “He has attributes I like in a full-back. He’s aggressive and athletic. There is still, however, room for improvement, so, hopefully, there is more to come from Danny.”
Saints are building up to their SPL return against Motherwell at McDiarmid Park on Saturday. They’ll be without six players after Chris Millar joined the list of those definitely out.
Graeme Smith, Kevin Rutkiewicz, Kevin Moon, Peter MacDonald and Andy Jackson were already on the sidelines.
