Kyle Benedictus could make Dunfermline’s squad for this weekend’s Fife derby.
His chances of being selected for the squad to face Raith at Stark’s Park on Saturday depend on who you ask, however.
The Pars captain has been eager to get back to action after fracturing a metatarsal against Inverness.
Last week, after signing a new two-year contract extension, Benedictus wouldn’t put a firm timeline on it but said he’d be back in the coming weeks.
“Kyle will be in contention – if you ask him,” said McPake. “But he was in contention last week and the week before that!
“He’s training away pretty well at what he’s doing. You just catch him out of the corner of your eye and he’ll be shelling a ball over the fence.
“It’s all just to show me he can kick the ball!
‘I could have a decision to make’
“Normally you can speak to the medical department and then speak to the player and get a sense of how they’re feeling.
“I’ve been that player telling the manager I’m ready to go, and sometimes it’s worked and sometimes it hasn’t. So it’s a balancing act.”
“He’s done more this week in training than he has done,” added the Dunfermline manager.
“If he gets through training ahead of the game okay and he says again that he feels ready then I will have a decision to make for Saturday.
“The one thing I don’t want to do is be reckless. It doesn’t matter whether we’ve lost two in a row or whether we had won two in a row.”
James McPake: Breen and Summers in contention
Rhys Breen came off ill at half-time in last week’s defeat to Ayr United but has trained this week and will be available.
Ben Summers should be OK after picking up a dead leg last weekend but care will be taken with the player.
Long-term absentees Matty Todd and Kane Ritchie-Hosler are “kicking a ball again”, while Andrew Tod picked up a knee injury in training that rules him out this weekend.
Dunfermline are looking to bounce back after they lost consecutive league games for the first time under McPake.
They travel to take on a Raith side flying high and sitting second in the Championship.
“We have not had that feeling [of losing consecutive league games] and I can guarantee we will get that feeling again,” said McPake.
“I’m surprised we never experienced that last season.
“Does it become a big deal because it’s the first time we have lost two games in a row? No. You just get back to trying to win games.
“It’s certainly not an excuse because we have been very good considering the injuries, if you look at the squad now and the experience in it in particular, we are going to have bumps.”
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