Tony Docherty has revealed a sickness bug has threatened to derail Dundee’s pre-Rangers preparations.
Eight first-team players have missed training this week because of illness.
On top of that, the Dark Blues will not have Scott Fraser or Clark Robertson to call on this weekend as the wait goes on for their return to action.
And there are also real doubts over Seun Adewumi’s fitness after picking up an injury against Hearts last weekend.
At the start of the week there was positive news on a number of the Dee’s injured stars, notably long-term injuries to Joe Shaughnessy and Ziyad Larkeche.
However, it doesn’t appear there will be any returning to face Rangers in the Premiership on Saturday.
“We had a bit of a bug going about,” Docherty said.
“We had a bit of a scare in the early part of the week with over eight players reporting symptoms.
“There’s been a flu going about. There’s loads of it going about it.
“We’re just cautious.
“Obviously the medical department are telling us sometimes the boys keep them away because they don’t want to spread it. So hopefully touch wood we’ve contained that now.
“There are only a couple with symptoms and everybody should be back to full training for the last part of the week.”
Clark Robertson
Not training yet for Dundee, though, are Scott Fraser and Clark Robertson while Burnley loan star Seun Adewumi has not trained since the Hearts match.
Docherty added: “Injury-wise, Adewumi picked up a knock against Hearts, that’s why he came off.
“He’s not training with the squad yet but we’ll give him every opportunity to be ready.
“Scott Fraser won’t make this one.
“Clark Robertson, we’re getting a scan on Friday just to see where he is and see if his progress is such that he can start being included in squads now.
“He feels in a good place so it’s to see if we can accelerate his rehab.
“We’ll see about that, but it won’t be long.
“He’s training at the moment with the physios, and a good thing from his point of view is he’s feeling good.
“So we’ll do the scan to see where we stand with it, and that will allow us to progress hopefully.”
Fraser frustration
Robertson’s progress is feeling good. Scott Fraser’s, however, is frustrating for player, club and manager.
The hope was he’d be back available for this fixture with a judgement to be made towards the end of the week.
The groin injury, though, is proving difficult to shake off.
“It’s frustrating for Scott because we’ve seen how valuable he is and how good a player he is,” the Dundee boss added.
“That is why we went to lengths to get him. It is frustrating and it’s frustrating for him as well.
“We’re following the surgeon’s instructions and we’re putting him through his rehab.
“We’d want him back a bit quicker than he is at the moment.
“So there is a frustration there but we’ve got to make sure we manage that right and get him back when he’s fully fit.”
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