Dunfermline manager Stevie Crawford hopes to have the likes of Euan Murray and Crystal Palace loanee Scott Banks back for the weekend’s Scottish Championship match with Arbroath.
Players such as captain Murray, Paul Watson and Declan McManus missed last weekend’s match with Queen of the South while Crystal Palace talent Banks has been missing for a couple of weeks with an ankle knock. Needing to win against Arbroath to boost their promotion play-off bid, Dunfermline manager Crawford won’t underestimate the task.
Crawford could have his Captain and Crystal Palace loanee back. (Photo by Ross MacDonald/SNS Group via Getty Images)
But the Pars boss hopeful of having a full squad to tackle it with: “At this moment in time there is nobody that I am ruling out of the game at the weekend. They are doing some part training to get themselves fit for the weekend. Other than Ryan Dow and Lewis Martin, the longer term injuries, we are hoping to have a full squad to choose from.
“You can only push your body so far but Euan had played a number of games and had shown what he was all about in terms of his commitment and get us over that to start winning games of football again. He has not ruled himself out for the weekend.
“I don’t think that we can get ahead of ourselves. Saturday is going to play a massive part in whether we are going to get into the play offs or not. Every day is a learning day and we have faced highs and lows throughout the season, we have remained pretty consistent through it in terms of our behaviour.
“I have spoken about our discipline with what we have faced with Covid, as every other team is facing as well, but it is a massive plus the way the boys and the squad have applied themselves over the course of the season. I think that will hold with us for the remaining games.”
NTOF now offers a YouTube channel featuring exclusive interviews, post-match discussion, in-depth debate, and much more – LIKE and SUBSCRIBE and don’t miss any of our videos.