Board back Laszlo to bring in new faces

Funds available to bolster injury-hit squad for promotion push

Dundee United manager Csaba Laszlo has been reassured by the board that he will have cash to spend in the transfer window.

Laszlo, who watched his side beat Brechin City 4-1 at Tannadice yesterday thanks to goals from Scott McDonald (two), Sam Stanton and a James Keatings penalty, is dealing with a selection crisis at the start of the new year.

He has lost a host of players to injury, with the long-term absences of key men Fraser Fyvie and Scott Fraser the most serious threats to their Championship title hopes.

Laszlo will look to recruit this month and he revealed that he has been promised funds by chairman Stephen Thompson and his directors.

The United boss said: “We have to look to bring players in and the board and the chairman are being really kind to me.

“We have a budget free for us to use at the moment.

“We will be looking to bring players in who can take over from the injured ones and help the team too.”

Fraser will have an operation on his fractured foot next week, while Fyvie will also be going under the knife to repair the cruciate ligament damage to his knee.

Regarding Fraser, Laszlo confirmed: “It is the old injury and I think next week he will get surgery to take out the screw in his foot and maybe put a new one in.

“We have a lot of injuries but we have to manage the situation.”

It looked like United’s injury woes had deepened even further when central defender Mark Durnan failed to reappear for the second half against City.

However, Laszlo said: “He will be OK. His ankle is a little bit swollen and I thought that we did not have to gamble with him.

“We need him and we are very confident that he can play against Falkirk.”

Laszlo, meanwhile, wasn’t happy with Paul McMullan, who was red-carded with over half-an-hour remaining after receiving a second yellow card for diving.

“It was a huge mistake by Paul,” he said.

“If you are an experienced player you know you are booked already and even if you lose the ball you don’t try to dive.

“He did it before and it’s not OK.

“It is not that I am criticising the player through the media because I have talked to the player already.

“You can bring trouble to your team-mates if you do that, for example, when it is 0-0 or 1-0.

“We are not talking about a child. We are talking about a player who has experience.”

Brechin boss Darren Dods, whose players were a goal down in under a minute, felt his team suffered because of a lack of training over the festive period in contrast to their full-time opponents.

“We were slow to get started and I don’t know if that was because we are part-time,” said Dods.

“United were in Saturday, Sunday, Monday and I think it showed in the first 10 minutes.

“We were off the pace,” added Dods, whose side did get a goal back through Jordan Sinclair’s penalty.

“Maybe that is something we should look at – recovery on the Sunday and then training on the Monday when we are playing games on Saturday and Tuesday.”