Aitken in plea over use of trialists
Sons face injury crisis as boss laments too many games, too soon
DUMBARTON manager Stevie Aitken has called upon the SPFL to allow the use of trialists in the Betfred Cup, after being plunged into an injury crisis ahead of the Championship season.
Aitken says the Sons have been forced to look at making further signings which haven’t been budgeted for after picking up injuries to four key players, with two of them long term.
He feels the demands of playing so many competitive games in such a short period at this stage of the season has proven too much for his parttime squad, and it would make sense to allow trialists to play to ease the burden on smaller clubs.
“I don’t think we are ready to play three games a week at this stage of the season,” Aitken said.
“We’ve picked up a lot of injuries, and we’ve been struggling to fill the bench. I’m now going to have to sign another two players that weren’t in the budget to make sure we have enough numbers.
“It’s not been ideal preparation, and if we could have played trialists in the group stages, I’m sure that would have helped a lot of teams.
“I’ve got four players out and have had to ask a couple to play through knocks, which is not a great idea.
“I would say the League Cup this summer has definitely been a hindrance for us.
“And it’s not just me, I think if you ask any manager they would say the same. East Fife only had two subs during the week, and Alan Archibald was last week saying the timing of it was not ideal.
“At part-time level especially, I certainly feel we can’t handle three games in a week at this time of year, we’re just not ready for it.
“I liked the idea of the group stages and I would keep it, but let us play trialists. Let us have a chance to get players ready for the start of the season rather than players having two or three weeks intense training and then just being fired straight into games.
“It’s caught us out this year and we’re really struggling to get a team on the park.”
With his long list of absentees for Saturday’s trip to Kilmarnock in their final Betfred Cup match, Aitken certainly didn’t need an avoidable suspension.
But experienced striker Christian Nade left his manager tearing his hair our after being sent off against Annan on Tuesday night for using abusive language towards an assistant referee.
“It was disappointing because we’re down to the bare bones as it is,” Aitken said. “Christian was frustrated that he didn’t get a penalty kick, there was an argument between him and the linesman and he’s spoken out of turn.
“It’s something we could really do without. It’s been a difficult two weeks and things haven’t been going well.
“We’ll certainly go to Kilmarnock and do the best we can, but I just can’t afford any other players to pick up knocks.
“Talks are ongoing with some players just now and I’d ideally like to get two in before Saturday to get them playing. We’re a bit short from midfield through to the front area, and we maybe need a defender too.”