Dundee’s “magnificent” fitness levels could prove crucial in a very busy April schedule as the Championship title race reaches a crescendo.
That’s according to manager Gary Bowyer as he hailed the energy his players showed in a testing double-header last week.
After just three matches in March, the Dark Blues play their final seven matches of the season across 34 days, starting Saturday at home to Hamilton Accies.
Managing the stop-start nature of the past month has been a challenge but Bowyer says the work done by players and staff has left the squad in a very healthy place.
Five players played all 180 minutes of the recent matches against Partick Thistle and Ayr with Lyall Cameron falling just short of that as a very late sub against the Honest Men.
Pride
And Bowyer says the chance to give his players a break ahead of those two games paid off.
“Our energy was magnificent against Ayr,” he added.
“We looked after the players during the break we had before the Partick game.
“It’s rare you get a chance at this stage of the season to have a break. Mentally I think it was really good for the players to have a weekend off, get away from the game.
“They’ve been on the go since mid-June really so it was a good opportunity to recharge the batteries, reset a little.
“Then when we got back into training we worked really hard, the intensity of training was very good. The intensity we train at is the same as how we play.
“But I thought the energy we had against Ayr, the stamina we showed was great just a couple of days after a tough game at Partick Thistle where we put a lot of effort in.
“I thought the fitness levels of the players was really impressive and it’s something we pride ourselves on, the players and staff.”
Team news
Meanwhile, Dundee are hoping a weekend off will also give time for some injuries to heal.
Seven first-team players missed the Ayr clash.
Cillian Sheridan and Tyler French have been ruled out for the season but there is a chance for others to shrug off recent issues.
No chances have been taken after Kwame Thomas’ concussion at Morton in February after he suffered a setback in that recovery while Lorent Tolaj has been out with an inflamed Achilles tendon.
Barry Maguire picked up a ankle knock in training while Cammy Kerr’s ankle issue is still a concern.
Bowyer said: “Barry Maguire’s was a freak one in training, we had actually stopped the practice and he passed it but someone followed through a little bit and he rolled his ankle.
“Cammy Kerr picked up the ankle problem against Partick Thistle. It’s a similar problem to the one Paul McGowan had in that you can’t do anything other than rest it and give it time.”
Left-back Ryan Clampin, meanwhile, was ill for the two matches last week but trained ahead of Tuesday’s match with Ayr and is expected to be available once more.
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