Dundee United striker Lawrence Shankland will be available to face Alloa despite the club taking extra care with his comeback.
The Tangerines travelled through to Falkirk yesterday for a bounce game and although the Scotland striker didn’t play in the match he took full part in the warm-up on the Bairns’ artificial surface before going off to do some work with the coaches.
United do seem keen to nurse him back gently but manager Robbie Neilson confirmed that Shankland will be ready to feature in Saturday’s Championship clash against the Wasps at Tannadice after recovering from his thigh injury.
Neilson said: “We haven’t played for a few weeks now (the Queen of the South match on November 16) and sometimes when that is the case it can take you a half of your next match to going again.
“That is why I spoke to (Falkirk interim coach) Lee Miller on Saturday night after our game against Morton went off to see if we could have a bounce game.
“We took the whole squad to Falkirk and had two separate sides who got 45 minutes apiece.
“We needed to get back into the habit of playing.
“We will have a lot of big games coming up – Alloa on Saturday, Morton on Tuesday and then Arbroath – so we need to be prepared.
“Lawrence did the warm-up and then some conditioning work.
“I am delighted with how he is coming on and he will be available for Saturday.
“We just felt it was not worth the risk using him at Falkirk but he will be ready for Saturday.
“Therefore, while it was disappointing that we didn’t get a match last weekend it has actually worked out not too bad for us.”
The game in Greenock has been rescheduled for next Tuesday night but Neilson revealed the Tangerines would have preferred a different date.
“Ideally, we would have wanted the game played later and we looked into trying to get that done,” he added.
“The problem we have is that there are no free weekends.
“The SPFL made the decision and they wanted it played as quickly as possible and that meant the next free midweek.
“They want to avoid a possible backlog and don’t want to be chasing their tail a wee bit if the weather gets worse.
“Ayr’s game against Arbroath is being played that night as well so we accept it and will get on with it.
“I did go down to Cappielow myself to see the pitch and the problem was that the sun wasn’t getting down the side in front of the main stand so it was the correct decision.”
United will be on something of a revenge mission on Saturday, having lost 1-0 to Alloa on October 4.
Neilson said: “We were very disappointed with the result down there.
“It was a very difficult day for us and we didn’t play anywhere near the level we know we can perform at.
“There will be days like that I think it is important that you bounce back and we have won five games on the bounce.
“Now it’s back at Tannadice with a good surface and a big crowd behind us and we have to do much better than we did in the previous game against Alloa – that’s for sure.”
Meanwhile, the United gaffer is working hard behind the scenes to get another experienced player signed up on the back of last week’s deal for Calum Butcher.
Neilson said: “We have spoken to Nicky Clark to try to extend his contract. We are in the process of trying to do that.
“He picked up a couple of niggly injuries but has come back this season and looked sharp.
“He has done very well for us and it’s something we hope to get done.”
