By Graeme Dey in Austria

GOALKEEPER RAB Douglas flew back to Scotland yesterday in search of a cure for an achilles tendon problem.

Douglas left Dundee’s training camp in Uttendorf at lunchtime, aiming to make a hastily arranged appointment with a specialist in Edinburgh late last night.

It’s not thought the complaint is serious but the Dark Blues decided to move swiftly in dealing with it in order to minimise the extent to which the players’ preparations for the new season might be disrupted.

Ironically, the injury stems from Douglas (37) training on his own over the summer looking to be in tip-top shape for pre-season!

“Rab did a bit of fitness work over the summer, part of which involved running up hills,” revealed manager Jocky Scott.

“And he developed a pain in his achilles which has been affecting him on and off ever since.

“Some days he’s fine but in training on Sunday it was impacting on his jumping for the ball.

“So we feel it’s best to get to the bottom of this.

“Somebody is going to take a look at him tonight when it’s possible he’ll get a wee jag.

“As a result, he would have to rest up for four to five days, so it was best to get him done now because, while that means him missing the rest of the week, all being well he’ll be ready for the games we’ve got Saturday, Monday and Tuesday once we get back.

“Rab is anxious to avoid having his training and playing broken up.

“And neither he nor we would want a situation where he might train a few days then break down or play one game then not be available for the next one.

“It’s best to get this addressed now than to let it rumble into the start of next season.”

As he prepared for the two and a half hour journey to Munich from where he was catching the flight home, Douglas told Courier Sport of his bitter disappointment at the turn of events.

“I was determined to be in good shape for the new season, hence the work I put in before we came back,” he said.

“And in general terms I have felt the benefit of that. But this thing has been niggling away and I need to get it fixed. I could have done without it. This is a nightmare. But maybe my body is telling me I should take things easier!”

Douglas wouldn’t have faced German’s FC Augsburg in Walschee tonight. But his understudy Tony Bullock will now have to play that game and tomorrow evening’s match with Borussia Moenchengladbach.

“I know the boys are desperate to get playing again and move things forward after all the training they’ve done,” said Scott of the club’s first pre-season fixture.

“Like all these games, it’s not the result which is going to matter. Pre-season matches are all about players linking up, developing understandings and building towards the start of the season.”

Dundee’s line up for the match will be: Bullock, Cowan, Malone, MacKenzie, Benedictus, Kerr, McHale, Young, Hart, McMenamin, Forsyth.

Tonight’s opponents are from the second Bundesliga, where for the past two years they have only narrowly avoided relegation.

However, they do have three historical claims to fame—having helped launch the careers of Bernd Schuster, Karl-Heinz Reidle and 1966 World Cup final scorer Helmut Haller.