| The pair were yesterday named in their respective Scotland and Northern Ireland U/21 squads rendering them unavailable for the game against Gordon Chisholm’s men.
Casement has been a fringe man so far for the Dark Blues this season, but the absence of Griffiths, in particular, is a bitter blow as the former Livingston striker is in red-hot form, a point acknowledged by the Dens gaffer.
“Sparky has been in great form and his goals have helped get us to where we are in the league.
“It’s great for him and Chris to get called up, and we do have guys who can come in as replacements, but, by the same token, it’s disappointing that we seem to be the only First Division club punished.
“We can’t look to cancel the game because we would need to have a minimum of three players away. So I can go on moaning all I want about it, but we just have to get on with it.”
Jocky is hoping defender Eric Paton and midfielder Gary Harkins will be available for Saturday’s home fixture against Airdrie at Dens.
The pair haven’t trained this week after being struck down by a virus.
“They haven’t done anything with the squad so far this week, but we’ve told them if they are feeling better they should try to do some work at home,” said the manager.
“Hopefully, they’ll be able to rejoin the rest of the lads in training tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, Dundee will head north to meet Ross County on Tuesday, December 1 (KO 7.45 pm). That league game had to be rescheduled due to the Dark Blues’ Alba Challenge Cup Final against Inverness Caley later this month. |
