Good News and Bad News

Update on Ryan Dow, Dom Thomas and Craig Wighton

The last week has been an up and down one at East End Park. First the bad news. Manager Stevie Crawford revealed that Ryan Dow who went down off the ball early in the second half of the match against Raith Rovers earlier this month, could be out for a while:-

“Ryan Dow has had an appointment with a specialist. He has a further appointment on Wednesday as well but I think Ryan is going to be out longer term. I don’t want to put a timescale on that at the moment until we hear from the specialists.

“It seems to be an issue with his Achilles. He’s been put into a moon boot for a week and the specialist will have a further look at it, and then we’ll probably know more hopefully later on this week.”

Better news however as Crawford added:- “Dom Thomas came back and trained with the physio on Friday then had a bit-part session on Saturday, and has fully trained on Monday and Tuesday now.”

The former Motherwell and Kilmarnock player was forced to sit out the games against Hearts, Raith and Arbroath after being forced into self-isolation. Stevie welcomed back the midfielder who turned 25 on Sunday:-

“He’s probably a wee bit off it, in terms of his conditioning, but Dom’s a good trainer, he’s a chirpy character and he’ll be part of the squad come the weekend. He’ll be a welcome addition back to the squad.”

In Dow’s absence the Pars manager is also pleased to have secured agreement with Hearts to bring in striker Craig Wighton on loan for the rest of the season. Wighton had already signed a pre-contract to join the Pars on a two-year deal in the summer but out of consideration for a first team place at Hearts, the 23 year old has made the switch across the Forth early after the clubs reached a loan agreement. Stevie credited his chairman and board for the success:-

“We are delighted to bring in Craig Wighton but I have to thank Ross and the Board for getting Craig in. I think he will miss the Hearts game, that was part of the agreement. Craig is a welcome addition to the squad, as I have said previously, I predominantly see him playing as a striker. He is adaptable to play in other positions but he will give us competition for places up there with Declan McManus, Lewis McCann and Kevin O’Hara.

“In discussions that I had with Craig I know that he was very keen to come in and be seen as playing as a striker. He will get that opportunity here but he is also willing to fight for his place which is important.”

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