Dundee are “refreshed” after an impromptu mid-season break, says manager Gary Bowyer.
The Dark Blues are preparing for the Championship title run-in with a double header coming up in the next week against rivals Partick Thistle and Ayr United.
Both those sides have played since Dundee’s last fixture at Cove Rangers on March 4.
The unexpected break came thanks to Ayr’s involvement in the Scottish Cup quarter-finals, seeing their original March 11 clash moved to next Tuesday.
Bounce game
To keep things ticking over Bowyer’s side took on St Johnstone in a closed-door game last week before a weekend off.
“We had a bounce game and it served its purpose. We only have three games in March so we got minutes into players who needed them and got others ticking over,” the Dundee boss said.
“It was good to test ourselves against a team from a higher division as well so it worked out well for both sides.
“Then the players got a weekend off and they’ve been back refreshed on Monday.
“Focus is on Partick Thistle. We watched their game at the weekend and we’ve obviously just played them recently so we know about them and they know about us.
“We play Saturday-Tuesday next week and then another weekend with no game.
“That might not be a bad thing in terms of rest but then we have six games in April.
“So then it will be about keeping players injury-free and fresh in their minds, keeping motivation up to get as many wins as we can.”
Team news
The time off has allowed one man who missed the win at Cove Rangers to recover.
Barry Maguire had been an ever-present since joining on loan from Motherwell before picking up an injury ahead of that trip to Aberdeen.
However, Cammy Kerr remains sidelined with an ankle knock while there are doubts over Kwame Thomas and Lorent Tolaj after they also missed the Cove clash.
“We’ve got one or two knocks in training and we had a couple out with illness last week as well,” Bower revealed.
“We’ve eased Barry Maguire back into training on Monday. He missed the Cove game so it was good to see him back.
“Cammy Kerr is still struggling with his ankle. We’re not sure how long it might be, it’s bruising on the bone so you just have to wait for it to settle down.
“Kwame Thomas and Lorent Tolaj aren’t back yet, Lorent missed Cove with illness and then picked up a bit of a knock.”
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