Dundee boss Gary Bowyer says Alex Jakubiak is getting back to his best after returning to full fitness.
The former Scotland U/19 international’s latest comeback from injury has been carefully managed by the Dark Blues.
After recovering from a hamstring problem picked up in a 1-0 victory at Raith Rovers on August 6, Jakubiak broke down in training.
He revealed this week just how big a problem that turned into with a number of “micro tears” around an old thigh injury picked up on a scan.
And added yet another chapter to Jakubiak’s catalogue of injuries as a Dundee player.
But he feels fit and has stated his desire to make up for lost time.
‘Patient’
The former Watford man has featured on and off as a substitute since a blistering start to the season with four goals in four League Cup games.
That promised a far different season ahead to Jakubiak’s previous two campaigns at Dens Park that yielded just 15 appearances due to injury.
The frontman, however, has been sidelined again with that clash at Stark’s Park his last start for the club.
Now, though, manager Bowyer says his form in training is approaching the kind of quality he produced in those early days of the season.
The Dens boss was asked about his striking options in the wake of top scorer Zach Robinson’s recall to parent club AFC Wimbledon and was quick to point out the promise of Jakubiak.
“We have Zak Rudden, Cillian Sheridan, Alex Jakubiak and Derick Osei to choose from,” Bowyer said.
“There is competition there.
“It has been great to have Jak back in amongst it, we’ve been patient with him.
“The way he has trained and performed in training, he is starting to get somewhere near what we saw at the start of the season.
“He is another option now.”
‘More to come’
Goals, though, are a worry for the Dark Blues with the rest of the top four sides comfortably outscoring them across the season.
Losing Robinson puts the onus on the remaining strikers to score the goals that can fire Dundee to promotion.
Rudden has eight in all competitions but between Jakubiak, Sheridan and Osei there is only one league goal this term.
Jakubiak has four overall, Osei three and Sheridan just one.
Though he has admitted the club are searching for a replacement for Robinson, Bowyer is keen to see improvement from all of his attacking options.
He is, however, happy with the range of talent at his disposal.
“I think there is more to come from all of them,” he added.
“They all have different aspects and areas to improve on.
“But they all have different areas of quality. Cillian is very dominant in the air for us compared to the others.
“Jak is more robust with pace and power.
“We have a good mix up the top but we just need to keep them fit now.”
