The pre-season performances of youngsters Harry Souttar and Coll Donaldson have reduced the urgency in Dundee United’s search for an experienced defender.
Manager Ray McKinnon has been keen to fix up an established central defender in time for the start of the league campaign next month.
That’s why he handed a trial to former Bournemouth man Stephane Zubar in Tuesday’s closed-door clash with Blackpool.
United lost that one 3-0 and Ray will not now be pursuing his interest in the 29-year-old.
And he’s revealed the work put in by 17-year-old Souttar and 21-year-old Donaldson means going into Friday’s League Cup opener at Arbroath he is relaxed about the situation.
With Mark Durnan also getting his first run-out of the build-up on Tuesday after recovering from an ankle problem, he also has cover for the heart of his rearguard.
“Young Harry has been looking good and Coll has put a lot of work in since we reported back,” said Ray.
“They both obviously have a lot to offer and if they keep going like this I will use them.
“I would still like to bring in an experienced defender but the way those two are playing means I can take a bit of time and have a look around.
“We’ve also got Durnan back. He got 45 minutes against Blackpool and did well but he’ll need a few games.
“If these boy do well they can convince me it’s not an area I need to look at.”
In addition to Zubar, meanwhile, United took a look at two strikers against the Seasiders.
One, from Trinidad, will be heading home but the other has been asked to stay on and train with the squad.
“He’s from Holland and he showed up well, so we’ll take a longer look at him,” confirmed Ray.
While by no means happy with the 3-0 defeat at the hands of the Seasiders, he accepted there were mitigating circumstances.
“We trained the boys hard in the morning and I used a different team in each half,” he explained.
“There was actually a lot of good things from the players but we gave away one bad goal and conceded a penalty, so we were up against it.
“Individually, though, I saw a lot of good things.”
This article originally appeared on the Evening Telegraph website. For more information, read about our new combined website.