The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Dundee face an anxious wait to see if midfielder Jordan Mcghee will need surgery on the shoulder injury picked up against Arbroath
There was good and bad news for Dundee boss James Mcpake following Friday night’s draw with Arbroath.
The Dark Blues suffered a triple whammy of injuries to key players during the game at Gayfield.
Thankfully, striker Danny Mullen has recovered from a dead leg while centre-half Liam Fontaine’s hamstring strain was caught in time and both should be fit to feature against Ayr at Dens tonight.
However, Mcpake is now facing an anxious wait to discover whether midfielder Jordan Mcghee will require surgery on a shoulder injury that forced him off after just 15 minutes against Arbroath.
The manager said: “Jordan is the one we are worried about the most.
“We will seek some opinions from specialists on him. He has had his scan so we will do that today but he won’t be ready for the Ayr game.
“It is a pec/shoulder muscle injury and it is one that is not very common in football. It was in a collision and it was just the position his shoulder and arm were in at the time.
“It is an unlucky one to pick up and is a hammer blow to us as he has been doing so well. We have been really pleased with him but that is football and we will just have to get on with it.
“So he will see a specialist on how we will address the injury.
“However, Danny Mullen and Liam Fontaine will be fine. Danny picked up a bad dead leg and we got Liam at the right time.
“I think that’s where you see Liam’s experience. As soon as he felt it was tightening up and ready to go, he just stopped.”
Mcpake reckoned Dundee would not have conceded the Ricky Little equaliser that cost them two points against Arbroath if Fontaine had still been on the pitch at the time.
However, the manager admitted he would accept short-term pain over the possible long-term absence of the key defender.
Mcpake added: “If Liam had been on the pitch when that corner had come in, we probably wouldn’t have conceded the goal because he would have organised it.
“But I would much rather have lost that goal than miss Liam Fontaine potentially for six to eight weeks through injury.
“Thankfully he is experienced enough and knows his body well enough to put his hand up.
“But I am sure he will be available for tomorrow.
“Declan Mcdaid missed the Arbroath game as he has not trained as much as we wanted but he did a lot of work over the weekend so he is available again.”
Mcpake is still frustrated that Dundee did not take all three points from Friday’s fixture.
But he acknowledged the fact league leaders Hearts lost and second top Dunfermline could only draw on Saturday was a bonus.
Mcpake said: “It was two points dropped against Arbroath because the simple fact is we had chances in the first half to be well out of sight.
“Arbroath were really good, particularly in the second half, and I have to give them credit.
“They caused us a lot of problems but it is two points dropped in my opinion because we lost a goal from a set-play right in the middle of our box.
“It is something we have stressed to the players and we have worked extremely hard on it.
“So we were disappointed but results went for us on Saturday. We are now eight games unbeaten and we need to look ahead to tomorrow night.”
Dundee will face an Ayr side who have not won in six games but Mcpake insisted he is just concentrating on his own team.
He added: “Ayr are a very dangerous team. I don’t look too much into form as Arbroath are bottom of the league and look at the problems they caused us.
“I didn’t even know Ayr were six games without a win. That doesn’t really bother me – it is about what we do.
“What this game gives us is a chance to open up a gap of nine points between us and them which is huge.”
The transfer window is set to close soon and Mcpake admitted he is hopeful some business may be concluded this week.
He said: “Like every January window, there are always bits and pieces done in the last week.
“Whether that is outgoings or incomings, I am sure there will be some stuff getting done.
“I wish it was done at the start of the window but it always seems to get left until the last couple of days.
“We will just have to see what happens but at the moment all our focus is on the Ayr game.”
Meanwhile, Ayr playermanager Mark Kerr is hoping that the signing of striker Andre Wright from Irish side Bohemian will help lift the Honest Men out of a frustrating run.
Wright, who started his career at West Bromwich Albion had spells at Kidderminster, Torquay, Coventry, Brighton Nuneaton and Gloucester before heading to Dublin in 2019, where he has scored 16 times.
The 24-year-old had been interesting Kilmarnock but has joined Ayr until the end of the season.
Kerr said: “If international clearance comes through Andre will help us as we look to end this frustrating run of six games without a win.
“He has a good pedigree and is hungry to do well here.”
It is not just on-field results that have been frustrating the Somerset Park boss.
He said: “January has been a strange month. We lost a last-minute goal at Queen of the South to lose 3-2 and we wanted to be back playing as soon as possible after that.
“However, snow and ice struck and we struggled to get somewhere to train and then had a Scottish Cup tie at Elgin postponed.
“The following week our training was interrupted as we had to start our weekly testing for Covid-19 and that weekend our clash at Dens was called off despite a local referee giving the Dens Park playing surface the thumbs up earlier in the day.”