The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
McPake plans hit by double setback
Forster self-isolates with Ayr clash in doubt
Dundee defender Jordon Forster is self-isolating after coming into contact with a positive Covid-19 case.
Dens Park boss James McPake revealed he’d be without the central defender for the next couple of weeks as he highlighted the Dark Blues’ frustration at games being called off.
A 9am pitch inspection has been called ahead of tonight’s home Championship clash with Ayr United, a game that has already fallen foul of the weather twice in recent weeks.
That’s after Saturday’s home fixture with Inverness Caledonian Thistle was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch following heavy rainfall.
And the Dens Park pitch has had no let-up with snow the culprit this time after wintry weather hit the city on Sunday night.
The forecast suggested snow will continue to fall throughout today and expectations are the game will be postponed for a third time.
“It’s a frustrating time for us,” said McPake.
“You want games played and players want to play and they want to get the Raith game out of the system.
“Fingers crossed the weather does break and we get it played.
“This is one of the worst snows I’ve seen up here.
“We are very fortunate to have the indoor facility at the RPC (Regional Performance Centre at Caird Park).
“We trained at the Oriam in Edinburgh on Saturday so we’ve been ticking over.
The players are fit and ready to go.
“Looking at the forecast it is looking difficult to predict when we’ll get back to playing.”
Should the Ayr match be called off once more, that will leave the Dark Blues with two outstanding fixtures to be scheduled.
If the weather doesn’t improve enough to relieve the pressure on the pitch, Dundee could end up with a backlog of fixtures near the tail end of the campaign.
McPake, however, isn’t worried about that possibility – as long as it’s not too busy a run-in.
He added: “I’m not too concerned with that at the minute. I believe we have a big enough squad to deal with that.
“It’s not big enough to play every second day if that happens and the weather doesn’t start behaving itself.
“However, we do have players who have been used to playing Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Wednesday so that’s not too big a concern at the minute.
“But we want to get to playing games and get back to winning ways quickly.”
The time off on Saturday allowed McPake and his coaching staff to get more training into new boys Jason Cummings, Paul McMullan and Malachi Fagan-Walcott.
However, the squad was hit with the news centreback Forster would be sidelined.
“Jordon Forster is selfisolating through being a close contact with someone outwith the club,” McPake added.
“Everybody else is fine barring the long-term ones. Josh Mulligan is back running which is good to see and Alex Jakubiak is stepping up his rehab as well.
“Jordan McGhee starts his rehab this week.”
There was also no update on a potential loan switch for highly-rated Celtic midfielder Ewan Henderson with the Dee still waiting on a decision from Parkhead.