Montrose boss Paul Hegarty admits his side’s recent three-week winter break came at exactly the right time to allow some of his players to recover from injury.
When the Angus side last played on November 21 against East Stirling, the Links Park boss was without eight of his squad.
Now, as they finally prepare to return to action this afternoon, Hegarty is relieved that the full-blown injury crisis seems to be behind them.
He said: “Prior to the break, we had eight out so the lay-off has been a blessing in disguise.
“We have been training away and had a practice match to keep us ticking over.
“We had also been offered a couple of friendlies but we could not muster a 1st team XI.
“We still have Terry Masson, Ross McCord and Andrew Steeves out with their long-term injuries along with goalie Jordan Millar.
“Paul Watson is taking a wee bit longer than we thought recovering from his hernia op.
“He has been training but has been having a wee bit of a reaction so we will just have to see if he is OK for the Stirling game.
Hegarty added: “However, Adam McWilliam is fit again, Graham Webster has recovered from a bout of tonsillitis, Ryan Kenneth is over his pneumonia and Matty Allan is also available.
“So despite still having a few first-team regulars out, we are much better placed than before the break.
“I have said it before but you can still throw a blanket over most of the teams in the league.
“We have not been doing well recently so we need to get back to winning ways against Stirling.
“They have picked up a lot over the last month and like Arbroath with Bobby Linn, they have Steven Doris who has played at a higher level with St Johnstone and Dundee so he is one we have to watch.
“However, we know if we win, we can catch them on 21 points so there is a big incentive for us.”