Dundee captain Kevin Thomson gave his club and himself a massive boost when he returned to training.
Thomson has been out since lasting just eight minutes of the Dark Blues’ goalless draw away to Inverness Caley Thistle on August 13.
He has been suffering on the sidelines with a calf injury but now, finally, seems to be on the verge of a welcome return to action.
Dundee manager Paul Hartley stressed that the club will be patient with the former Rangers and Hibs man and indicated that Saturday’s trip to Motherwell will come just a little bit too soon for the midfielder.
The delighted Dens boss confirmed: “Thommo joined in training and that was pleasing. He is a big player for us and we have missed him, that’s for sure.
“I am happy that he came through the session unscathed. Hopefully, he will get a good working week behind him and then kick on.
“I would think he would need a game, though, before being considered for the first team. A match should give him his sharpness back.
“I am not going to just throw him back in for the sake of it. Taking our time with him is the sensible thing to do because he has been out for a long period of time.
“We are not, all of a sudden and because he is back training, rush him into a competitive game. We will just make sure he is OK within himself first.”
Also, back on the training park yesterday was Simon Ferry, who missed the home defeat to Aberdeen because of illness.
Hartley added: “As well as Thommo returning, we had Simon back after being off for the past week to 10 days with a virus so that was another plus for us.”
There was further encouragement for the Dark Blues, with Hartley reporting positively on medial ligament injury victim Willie Dyer’s progress.
He said: “Willie is coming on and hopefully he is not too far away either.”