The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Silver lining to snow-filled cloud for United boss
The big freeze may have left Dundee United with a fixture pile-up but at least some good has come out of it.
The whiteout that wiped out the recent home matches against Queen of the South (twice) and St Mirren has left them with a daunting schedule, to put it mildly.
They have to cram in
13 games in just seven weeks between tomorrow’s trip to Brechin and the end of the Championship’s regular season at home to Livingston on April 28.
Needless to say they will need as many fit players as possible to wade through that porridge-like programme.
The lack of games – they have had only one home fixture since beating Brechin at Tannadice on January 2 – has lengthened the recovery window for some players.
That means manager Csaba Laszlo will now able to include striker Emil Lyng, defender William Edjenguele and midfield duo Grant Gillespie and Jordie Briels in his squad for Glebe Park tomorrow.
Lyng and Gillespie would have had to sit out the visit of the Doonhamers last Tuesday had that game not been cancelled due to a waterlogged pitch, the same goes for Lyng, while Edjenguele and Briels have recovered from long-term injury.
The United boss confirmed: “Grant would not have been able to play if we had had the game on Tuesday.
“It is not a serious injury but it came from playing on different surfaces because of the weather.
“We played before on the grass then we trained indoors and the artificial surface (GA Arena), and he felt his calf was sore a little bit.
“He would not have been fit for Queen of the South and Emil still had the injury he picked up against Livingston and also would not have made it.
“He is back training again, as are William and Jordie, while Scott Fraser is running and could be just three weeks away from being OK.”