There was good and bad news for Dundee boss James McPake following Friday night’s draw with Arbroath.
The Dark Blues suffered a triple whammy of injuries to key players during the game at Gayfield.
Thankfully, striker Danny Mullen has recovered from a dead leg while centre-half Liam Fontaine’s hamstring strain was caught in time and both should be fit to feature against Ayr at Dens tonight.
However, McPake is now facing an anxious wait to discover whether midfielder Jordan McGhee will require surgery on a shoulder injury that forced him off after just 15 minutes against Arbroath.
The manager said: “Jordan is the one we are worried about the most.
“We will seek some opinions from specialists on him.
“He has had his scan so we will do that today but he won’t be ready for the Ayr game.
“It’s a pec/shoulder muscle injury and it is one that is not very common in football.
‘Injury is a hammer blow to us’
“It was in a collision and it was just the position his shoulder and arm were in at the time.
“It is an unlucky one to pick up and is a hammer blow to us as he has been doing so well. We have been really pleased with him but that is football and we will just have to get on with it.
“So he will see a specialist on how we will address the injury.
“However, Danny Mullen and Liam Fontaine will be fine.
“Danny picked up a bad dead leg and we got Liam at the right time.
“I think that’s where you see Liam’s experience. As soon as he felt it was tightening up and ready to go, he just stopped.”
McPake reckoned Dundee would not have conceded the Ricky Little equaliser that cost them two points against Arbroath if Fontaine had still been on the pitch at the time.
However, the manager admitted he would accept short-term pain over the possible long-term absence of the key defender.
McPake added: “If Liam had been on the pitch when that corner had come in, we probably wouldn’t have conceded the goal because he would have organised it.
“But I would much rather have lost that goal than miss Liam Fontaine potentially for six to eight weeks through injury.
“Thankfully he is experienced enough and knows his body well enough to put his hand up.
“But I am sure he will be available for tomorrow.
“Declan McDaid missed the Arbroath game as he has not trained as much as we wanted but he did a lot of work over the weekend so he is available again.”
McPake is still frustrated that Dundee did not take all three points from Friday’s fixture.
However, he acknowledged the fact league leaders Hearts lost and second top Dunfermline could only draw on Saturday was a bonus.
McPake said: “It was two points dropped against Arbroath because the simple fact is we had chances in the first half to be well out of sight.
“Arbroath were really good, particularly in the second half and I have to give them credit.
Eight games unbeaten
“They caused us a lot of problems but it is two points dropped in my opinion because we lost a goal from a set play right in the middle of our box.
“It is something we have stressed to the players and we have worked extremely hard on it.
“So we were disappointed but results went for us on Saturday.
“We are now eight games unbeaten and we need to look ahead to Ayr.”