Jordan Marshall’s injury has denied Dundee their best player this season, according to manager James McPake.
The left-back was an instant success after arriving at Dens Park in the summer.
His absence since the win against Morton has coincided with a run of three defeats and a draw but McPake is hopeful that he will be back in the starting line-up for the visit of Dunfermline this weekend.
“Marshall’s injury has been a blow,” he admitted. “He was set to come back into the squad earlier but we think he’s over the worst of it now.
“We won’t be taking any chances with him when we get him back. The extra week will have helped him.
“He hit the ground running and was consistently our best player from day one, I think.
“He was everything we hoped he would be and probably a bit more.
“Every week you knew what you were getting.
“I thought Sean (Mackie) did OK on Saturday to be fair to him. He was one of our better performers.
“But Marsh has been a miss. You want the two of them fighting it out and keeping each other on their toes.”
A draw at Arbroath wasn’t the result McPake was looking for but it was a step forward of sorts after three defeats on the bounce.
“In terms of chances it was,” said the Dundee boss.
“I thought that we looked more of a threat. It’s still not enough, we know, but we were more of a threat than we had been over the last few games.
“You’re clutching at straws for positives but responding to being 1-0 down was the positive.
“We showed that we weren’t going to crumble.”
