Macca on Friday

12/09/2008: "Dundee have signed a lot of players; good players as well. We are under no illusions how hard it

The two week break since the Pars last game has allowed the Club's injury list to lighten. Greg Shields, Stephen Glass and Scott Thomson should all be available for selection but unluckily Iain Williamson picked up an ankle injury in the closed doors match against Celtic last week. The 21 year old will be out for two or three weeks.

Manager Jim McIntyre confirmed that those returning from injury have not had any reaction having trained fully for the last two days and added his side were looking forward to the game in Dundee:-

"Dundee will be challenging for promotion, they have good players, a good manager and it will be a very difficult game but these are the big games that you want to be playing in.

"Dundee have signed a lot of players; good players as well. We are under no illusions how hard it is going to be."

The teams Dundee have played so far in this league campaign are in the bottom half of the league, save Queen of the South who defeated Dundee 3-1. The gaffer does not read much into that however, maintaining that every match in the First Division is a tough game:-

"We have seen that ourselves with Airdrie at home and obviously Livingston as well with a result that took them to the top of the league. You have to battle for everything you get, it is a very competitive league."

Macca confirmed that Greg Ross' loan period to Cowdenbeath is for a month (starting this week) but could be extended depending on how well he is doing:-

"You have got to remember that Greg has been out two years and I brought him into the team last year in between operations and the crowd absolutely hammered him. So you need to give the boy a chance to get games under his belt. That wasn't fair, I had nobody else and I had to play him.

"It just didn't work so we feel it will benefit him to go and get a good seven or eight games under his belt. That loan might be extended but that will depend on our own situation and how Greg has settled back into playing."