Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Games mounting up for Tangerines
DUNDEE United could be facing a schedule of 19 games in just 69 days in their bid to get back to the Premiership.
Saturday’s late call-off at Brechin because of a waterlogged pitch means the Tangerines will now have just one free midweek until the end of the regular Championship season.
By the time they face Queen of the South tomorrow they won’t have played for over a fortnight and now face a run of 13 fixtures in just 47 days.
If results in that spell see them fail to climb back to second spot, it will mean up to another six play-off outings coming i n j ust 20 days in May.
That’s going to stretch Csaba Laszlo’s injury-hit squad to the limit.
He’s already lost Fraser Fyvie, Lewis Toshney and James Keatings for the rest of the season.
Star-man Scott Fraser is also out for another three weeks at least because of the broken foot he suffered at the end of last year.
The period since then has seen United also have to do without William Edjenguele and Jordie Briels because of long-term injuries. French defender Edjenguele was back in the squad for the weekend and Briels is close to returning.
Starting with tomorrow’s trip to Dumfries for the first in the marathon programme of games, it is going to be a case of all hands to the pumps.
The backlog of fixtures means United go into that game knowing if they lose the will drop out of the play-off positions. Even with several games in hand on almost every other club, that only adds to the pressure on the pre-season favourites for promotion.
Saturday’s Glebe Park trip was called off j ust minutes after United arrived.The playing surface had been fine but torrential rain from noon left it flooded.