Dundee have received a big boost with the return of Charlie Adam to training for the first time since recovering from Covid-19.
The talismanic midfielder has missed the club’s last three games – the draw at Morton, victory over Inverness and Saturday’s defeat at Tynecastle – following his positive diagnosis.
However, the 35-year-old former Rangers and Liverpool player has now emerged from his period of self-isolation to rejoin his team-mates.
The Dark Blues were supposed to be playing Dunfermline on Tuesday but the game was postponed following a Covid outbreak at East End Park.
Dundee boss James McPake admitted if the Pars fixture had gone ahead as planned, it would have come too soon for Adam but he is hoping his skipper will be available for Saturday’s crunch clash with Arbroath.
McPake said: “Charlie is back training which is a huge boost for us.
“He wouldn’t have been ready for the Dunfermline game. We wouldn’t have put Charlie at risk in terms of his health.
“Charlie has a family and is a human being so we need to take care of that side of it first and foremost.
“Football comes second to that so Tuesday’s game would have come too soon for him.
“The game on Saturday now gives us more of a chance to work with him and get him right. So we will see how he is come the weekend.”
Further fitness boost
There was further good news yesterday for Dundee with Jordan McGhee stepping up his recovery from shoulder surgery, while long-term injury victim Alex Jakubiak continues to make significant progress.
McPake said: “It was great to see Jordan back out doing some real hard work on the grass today which is a big boost for this football club.
“It is also a massive lift for Jordan as he was finding some real form before his injury.
“Alex has had some really good news from the surgeon so he is stepping up his rehab.
“All going well, we will have him and Jordan back before the end of the season.
“Both are progressing and on course for that which will be a massive boost for the club.
“Danny Mullen has a bit of a dead leg from Saturday but should be OK.”
Hearts reflections
McPake has had a chance to reflect on the 2-1 defeat to league leaders Hearts and he still believes his players deserved to draw the game.
He added: “We are frustrated that we came away with nothing.
“Having watched the game back again numerous times, between myself and the coaching staff, I think we deserved a point out of the game.
“I am not going to sit here and say we deserved to come away with all three points or that we were by far the superior team.
“But both teams had spells where they were on top and both had chances in the game.
“I thought it was a half decent game of football in the Championship.
“I think if we had won the game, they could not have had too many complaints but I think a fair result would have been a draw.”
Meanwhile, Jordon Forster, who was linked with possible loan moves to Falkirk and Partick Thistle last week, remains at Dens.
However, the experienced centre-half has not featured since the Arbroath game in January and, with youngsters Malachi Fagan-Walcott and Sam Fisher seemingly ahead of him in the defensive pecking order, he could be farmed out sooner rather than later.
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