Dundee will be missing one of their defensive “stalwarts” if Antonio Portales’ hamstring injury keeps him out for an extended period.
The Mexican defender pulled up after chasing Rangers forward Abdallah Sima in the weekend defeat at Ibrox.
How long he might be out for is yet to be confirmed.
However, manager Tony Docherty admits it’ll be a blow to his defensive plans for Portales to miss any of the upcoming festive fixtures.
The 27-year-old has played 12 times for Dundee this season with half of those games seeing the Dark Blues keep a clean sheet.
“The physios have had him all weekend but we are sending him for a scan and we will find out the results of that later on,” Docherty explained.
“But it looks like a hamstring strain.
“Antonio has been excellent and one of the stalwarts.
“He has played every minute since the Hibs game and in his first six matches, we kept five clean sheets.
“He has not just been a good player on the pitch, he has been a brilliant trainer and person about the place.
“Knowing his mentality, he won’t be out long but it depends on the nature of the strain.
“Hopefully we will have him back soon.”
Owen Beck
Missing completely at Rangers was Liverpool loanee Owen Beck with a groin injury.
The Wales U/21 international has been a standout for Dundee all season and was a big miss at Ibrox.
With a crunch Premiership clash against Ross County coming this weekend, Docherty is hopeful he will have the flying full-back to call on in Dingwall.
“Beck has been working with the physios and we are hoping we can get him back out on the training ground later on this week,” the Dens boss added.
“We have had him scanned and the results were positive so it is just about nursing him along and making sure he is ready to train and play.
“We will hedge our bets but we are hopeful we can get him back out training and available for this week.”
Liverpool discussions
And has there been any confirmation over whether he will see out the season-long loan deal from Liverpool?
Part of the deal allows Beck to be recalled by his parent club in the January transfer window.
“We are in the middle of discussions,” Docherty revealed.
“There is no confirmation of that just now but we are in discussions.”
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