James McPake is hopeful of having three key players back from injury for Dunfermline’s clash with Queen’s Park this weekend.
The Pars boss is confident that on-loan Celtic keeper Toby Oluwayemi and Birmingham City defender Tommy Fogarty will both be passed fit for the visit of the Spiders.
After impressing with his displays against Ayr United, East Fife and Raith Rovers, Oluwayemi sat out Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Partick Thistle due to a niggling thigh complaint.
Fogarty, meanwhile, had to be substituted just before the break with a facial injury following a nasty clash of heads with Harry Milne.
McPake said: “Tobi was really close for Saturday. We just felt the more strain we put through it there was a higher chance of it getting worse.
“We put him on the bench in case something happened to Deniz [Mehmet] late on and, depending on how the game was going, we could have got Tobi on without him having to kick the ball.
“That call was made on Friday but hopefully we’ll have him back for Saturday.
“Tommy will be fine. His eye is still a wee bit shut and he’s got a cracker of a black eye. It was a horrible collision.
“But, from doing the tests, there were no signs of concussion, so he will be fine for this weekend.”
Caught in time
David Wotherspoon was the third of the injury worries for Dunfermline after the trip to Firhill.
The former St Johnstone and Dundee United midfielder limped off midway through the first-half with a hamstring complaint.
However, McPake is optimistic the 34-year-old’s early substitution will have saved a spell on the sidelines.
He added: “David’s hopeful of being okay. We’re hopeful we caught it in time.
“It was just a real tightness in his hamstring, so I’m hoping to have him back.
“We might have him back in training on Wednesday. We’ll just have to see how it settles.”
Meanwhile, Dapo Mebude pressed his case for a deal at Dunfermline with a goal in Tuesday’s reserve win over Falkirk.
The former Rangers and Watford striker struck between two Taylor Sutherland efforts in a 3-0 victory in the SPFL Reserve Cup.
Mebude flicked on an Andrew Tod shot to find the net before being replaced with 15 minutes remaining.
New signing Craig Clay also boosted his fitness with a 63-minute run-out in the match alongside first-team players Rhys Breen, Josh Cooper, Joe Chalmers, Michael O’Halloran and Craig Wighton.
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