Dundee United could welcome back Danny Swanson and Garry Kenneth for Thursday’s Europa League second leg against Slask Wroclaw.
The pair missed out the 1-0 defeat in Poland last week but Swanson returned to the side against Cowdenbeath on Saturday, while Kenneth has resumed full training with the rest of the squad.
Tannadice boss Peter Houston admitted Swanson, whose involvement at Central Park was limited to 30 minutes, can only hope for a place on the bench, but the influential playmaker could have a role to play as an impact substitute.
If Kenneth suffers no reaction to stepping up his work he could be in line to return and combat Slask’s physical strikers.
Houston said, “Danny played 30 minutes on Saturday at Cowdenbeath, so he’s making decent progress. He wouldn’t be anywhere near fit to start but he’s a good one to have coming off the bench. He trained with the lads today, and so did Garry Kenneth.
“So it’s a case of waiting for the next 24 hours to see if they suffer any reaction to it. If not, then they’ll continue to train away and we’ll think about them for Thursday.
“It would be great to have the pair of them involved, even if it was just coming on for 20 minutes or so in Danny’s case. He can give us a spark and the fans always get a lift when he’s in the team.”
Although United are trailing 1-0 thanks to Johan Voskamp’s late winner in Wroclaw, they showed enough to suggest the tie is very much alive. Johnny Russell and David Goodwillie should have scored vital away goals but, even though they did not manage to find the net, Houston is confident they will have their shooting boots on this week.CavalierThe United boss believes Slask are set up to counter-attack so has warned his players against being too cavalier and will be preaching patience over the next couple of days.
“I think Slask will keep the same formation and will play in a similar way to how they played in Poland. They are a quality side and they don’t have to score a goal, so they will be as tight.
“I think they are a counter-attacking team so it might suit them coming across here. We need to score but we will have 90 minutes to do that and we’ll have to show patience.
“The worst thing we can do is lose an early goal so, while we will obviously be going out to attack, we won’t be going gung-ho.”
With up to 2000 Poles expected to be present at Tannadice on Thursday, the match could be a sell-out.
Houston is hoping United’s fans will create a memorable European atmosphere.
He said, “The tickets are going well. The atmosphere in Poland was great and I’d love Tannadice to be rocking on Thursday as well.
“Our fans always give the players great backing and it would be a boost for them to walk out and see the stands packed.”