Dundee could see return of injured pair

[News Anchor]

Dundee could be boosted by the return of Faissal El Bakhtaoui and Kosta Gadzhalov at Hearts today.

Attacker El Bakhtaoui missed Tuesday night’s defeat at Ross County with a calf strain.

And defender Gadzhalov has been out injured since the defeat at St Johnstone almost a month ago.

Both, however, have been back in training and manager Paul Hartley is hopeful they can be listed in the travelling squad for Tynecastle,

“We will see how they are but they have a chance,” said Paul.

“They’ve done a bit with the physio and they’ll do a bit more, so, hopefully, they’ll make it.

“They play in key positions for us and it bolsters the squad, so it would be good to have them both available.”

While the gaffer was disappointed with the midweek result up in Dingwall, Hartley believes the fighting spirit shown by his players demonstrated they are capable of pulling away from a relegation dogfight between now and the end of the campaign.

“I knew we would get a reaction from them (after the 7-0 loss to Aberdeen). That was a must and they did that.

“It was a disappointment to lose a cruel goal with almost the last kick of the ball.

“If we’d taken a point from there — it’s a difficult venue for us — we’d have come down the road happy.

“But the reaction of the players was tremendous.”

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