Dundee United boss Ray McKinnon has revealed that Stewart Murdoch has a chance of being involved in the Irn-Bru Cup quarter-final against Dunfermline.
The Tannadice midfielder has been sidelined since September 20 after tearing his cruciate ligament and was expected to be out for some time yet.
However, Murdoch’s recovery is way ahead of schedule and he could be on the bench at East End Park on tomorrow when United face the Pars in a lunchtime kick-off.
A delighted McKinnon said: “Murdo trained today and he has a chance of making the bench on Saturday.
“That is the incentive for him and he has knocked his pan in to get back ahead of schedule.
“It will be a reward for him if he does make it and if we can even get 15 minutes off him then we will take that.”
Another player who has been out long term is Lewis Toshney, who suffered serious ankle ligament damage in the draw against Hibs at Easter Road on October 2.
However, just like Murdoch, he is ahead of the game and is poised to start against the Pars.
McKinnon added: “Tosher is feeling good and will play on Saturday.
“He played 70 minutes of the development game on Wednesday night and trained agaiin today so he will be involved.”
Having just faced – and beaten – Dunfermline in the league on Tuesday, it is no surprise that McKinnon will shake up his side for the cup-tie.
He wants to keep as many of his first-team squad match fit for the tough league fixtures to come.
He said: “The likes of Luis Zwick, Cammy Smith, Simon Murray and Nick van der Velden will all play.
“These are all first-team players.
“We will be going to win the game but we will be making changes.
“We have just had a tough game on Tuesday and we have big matches coming up.
“We want to keep as many players as possible as fit as possible and keep the injuries to a minimum.
“This will also be the fourth time we have played Dunfermline this season so it makes sense to freshen things up.
“We are utilising our squad to the maximum.”
Meanwhile, McKinnon confirmed that the diagnosis for Paul Dixon is not as bad as first feared.
He said: “The surgeons reckon it will be four weeks’ out minimum for him.
“It is medial ligament damage but it’s not ruptured, which is good news.
“It has been stretched but it could have been a lot worse.
“We are gutted for him but hopefully he will be back as soon as possible.”