Dundee hopeful on return of injured pair

[News Anchor]

Dundee are hoping to have Faissal El Bakhtaoui and Kosta Gadzhalov back for Saturday’s relegation battle with Hamilton Accies.

El Bakhtaoui has missed the last two games, while Gadzhalov’s absence has now stretched to four games since picking up a calf injury in Martyn Fotheringham’s testimonial up at Forfar last month.

Both were close to being listed in the weekend squad for what turned out to be a defeat at Hearts but fitness checks on Friday revealed they were not quite ready.

With another week to recover, however, there is optimism they can be involved against Accies, who sit just a point below the Dark Blues near the foot of the Premiership table.

If Gadzhalov makes it, that could mean teenager Daniel Higgins dropping down to the bench after making his debut at Tynecastle on his 19th birthday.

That would not be a reflection of his performance in the capital.

“Daniel was very good. His best position is probably in central midfield, where we’ve been playing him for the U/20s,” said boss Paul Hartley.

“He can also play in central defence and with the system we wanted to use, we played him there against Hearts.

“He was very composed for a player his age and he had a very good upbringing at Celtic before he joined us.”

Another who is available again is wide man Danny Williams after serving his suspension for the red card picked up at Ross County last week.

The former Inverness winger had enjoyed a decent spell in the team over the last few weeks but lost his cool as tempers boiled over late on in the defeat in Dingwall.

He sat out the loss at Tynecastle as a result but will return to the manager’s thoughts for Saturday.

 

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