Dundee United boss Robbie Neilson expects to have January signings Osman Sow and Mark Connolly back in his squad for Saturday’s Tannadice clash with Queen of the South.
And top scorer Nicky Clark, rested from the starting line-up at former club Dunfermline on Tuesday night, will be back in contention for 90 minutes.
Centre-half Connolly has missed the last two games because of muscle tightness but is back in full training and will come into the reckoning for a place at the weekend.
Striker Sow has not featured since limping off early in the defeat at Partick Thistle on March 9 after an ongoing calf problem flared up.
The 28-year-old was close to being involved at East End Park but it was decided to give him an extra few days to recover from an issue that’s dogged him since he signed up from MK Dons.
“Osman is in training and was touch-and-go for Tuesday night but we’d expect him to be ready for Saturday, and Mark will be fit for that one as well,” said Robbie.
The gaffer has admitted the lack of game time they had prior to signing up a couple of months back means he’s having to carefully manage the fitness of most of those players.
And Clark’s fitness problems earlier in the campaign means he is in the same boat and is why he did not start against the Pars.
“It’s about taking it from game to game but everyone is getting fitter and fitter.
“The likes of Calum Butcher, I think you see he is starting to get into his stride and dominating games in midfield. Ian Harkes as well – he is coming on.
“WIth Nicky, we just felt we’d asked an awful lot of him because he was out for three months injured and he came back and we just chucked him straight in.
“He’s been great for us but I just felt going Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday as we’ve had to do over the past week, he could probably do with a wee bit of a rest.
“He came on in the second half and did a good job.
“You saw his touches were back to the way it was previously because I felt he had fatigued a wee bit recently because of the time he’d missed.
“With the games coming the way they have it was always going to be a case of using the squad.”
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