Dundee boss Tony Docherty has seen his squad ravaged with injuries over the past few weeks.
And despite the two-week international break, he’s still got some problems to deal with.
However, when speaking to the press ahead of Dundee’s teatime kick-off against Hibs on Saturday, there were chinks of light on the injury front.
The bad injury news for Dundee
At the moment, Scott Fraser has a groin issue that is going to require some surgery. He pulled up injured against Motherwell a month ago in what was his first start for Dundee.
If the surgery is a success, the midfielder should be back in around four weeks. As quoted in The Courier, Docherty said: “Scott Fraser is going for an operation.
“But the good news about that is he should be back for the fixtures around Christmas. I’m really frustrated for Scotty. We saw the positive impact he had at Motherwell.
“Frustrating, because I thought he’d get a wee head of steam up. But medically, we’ve got to the bottom of it.
“We’ve addressed that and hopefully, as I say, within a four-week period, I’m hoping he’ll be back and he’ll be contributing as he did previously. Because he’s an important player for us.”
Meanwhile, loanee left-back Ziyad Larkeche won’t be back until at least January due to a hamstring tear. It’s been said he will travel back down to parent club QPR for treatment.
On Larkeche, Docherty noted: “It is a blow, because he was doing fantastic. He was really, really improving and developing as a player.
“When we first embarked on the loan arrangement with him, similar to the ones we’ve done previously, it was all about his improvement, his development.
“I think he’s shown that in his contribution to most recent games. So, disappointed for the boy. But what it does is it creates opportunities for others.”
The good injury news for Dundee
In more positive news, Dundee fans will be encouraged to hear Fin Robertson, Josh Mulligan and goalkeeper Trevor Carson are all in contention for the Hibs clash.
Docherty added on Carson in particular: “Trevor came out of the team with the knee issue after the St Johnstone game.
“So he’s missed the last three games but he’s responded to treatment. And obviously the international break has helped as well.
“He’s been back on the training pitch. We’ll monitor Trevor closer to kick-off. That’s a positive.”