Dundee boss John Brown has received a big boost after long-term injury lay-offs Stephen O’Donnell and Leighton McIntosh made their comebacks in a bounce game at Dens.
The Dark Blues do not have a match this weekend, but “Bomber” was keen for the duo to get a run-out with Thursday’s behind-closed-doors session also giving him the chance to run the rule over three unnamed trialists.
Former Dundee boss Archie Knox, who is back at the club in a football development and scouting role, took in the game and he and Brown are keen to strengthen the Dens squad with the defence being one of the prime areas they would like to bolster.
The manager was forced to field a makeshift back four against Livingston last weekend because of injuries to Kyle Benedictus and Iain Davidson who is a recognised midfielder and he intends to assess further trialists between now and the January window.
Brown said: “Leighton and O’D played the full 90 but we now need to up things with reserve games and more training with the first team. Iain Davidson trained today as well so it was good to get a few back in action to bolster the squad.
“We also had three trialists in. We had two in last week and they played in a bounce game against Peterhead but we wanted to see them in action against our first-team boys.
“One of them was from Belgium and the other two were from down south.
“We had a good workout but they are no better than what we have here already. So we are still looking to see what we can bring in.
“Although we have one or two coming back from injury, we need to address areas where we need to strengthen.
“You saw when we had Davo out at the weekend we had to reshape the defence and it wasn’t ideal so we will be looking to bring more players in between now and January with a view to bolstering the squad.”
Brown admitted that he would have preferred to have had a game this week as Dundee look to bounce back from last week’s defeat at Livingston.
However, he acknowledged the free weekend could benefit his side in the long run with a demanding set of fixtures looming on the horizon, with the Dark Blues set to face Raith, Falkirk and Hamilton in successive weeks.
The manager added: “The break has allowed a few to come back into the squad. It has allowed us to rest boys like Jim McAlister who has been carrying a few problems as well as Craig Beattie.
“So it has been a good thing that there isn’t a game but I like to keep things going right through.
“They have been working hard this week and we have just had a full-scale game. They are now off until Monday when we will focus on the Raith game which is a big match for us.
“It is a huge month for us. We have the two home games against two tough sides in Raith and Falkirk but we have a decent record at Dens and we want to continue that.”