Dundee boss Paul Hartley is hopeful that the loss through suspension of key performer Gary Harkins this weekend can be offset by the return of two other midfielders from injury.
Harkins was dismissed deep into injury time of the match at Hamilton on Saturday.
The 29-year-old had been substituted having been booked earlier but he leapt off the bench to confront Accies’ Jason Scotland after the striker had chopped down Thomas Konrad right in front of the Dundee dugout.
Harkins’ actions sparked a melee involving both sets of players and once order had been restored, Scotland was booked and then Harkins was shown another yellow card followed by a red.
With the Dark Blues already hit by a lengthy injury list, the last thing Hartley needed was to lose the talismanic midfielder to suspension.
However, the manager is hopeful that skipper Kevin Thomson and Paul McGowan will return from injury to play against Partick Thistle at Firhill to fill the void left by Harkins’ absence.
Hartley said: “Hopefully Thommo and Gowser will both be back for the weekend.
“I don’t really need to tell Gary. He knows what’s happened. But I don’t think he’s done an awful lot wrong.
“He didn’t say anything. It was more just the way he got out of the dugout.
“He didn’t throw any punches. There was no aggressive manner.
“He’s a player we’re going to miss at the weekend but we’ve got to get on with it.”
As well as McGowan and Thomson, Iain Davidson and Willie Dyer also missed the Hamilton game but Hartley revealed he is hopeful both will also be available at Partick.
He said: “Dyer trained today which is good. He’s had a little knock but is coming on. Iain Davidson has had an operation on his nose. He’s had a problem with his sinuses.
“He can join in training but he’s not done any contact, although hopefully he can come back this weekend.”
The Dens boss has been running the rule over two Bulgarian trialists recently and he admitted one of them had impressed him.
Hartley added: “We liked one of the Bulgarian trialists who was over. We would like to do some business in January but it’s not always that easy.
“It’s about budget, players coming in and going out. That’s just the way football is these days.”