Testing times for recovering players

Dec 5 2008 by Kieran Westbrook, Dumfries Standard Friday

QUEENS’ boss Gordon Chisholm will have his fingers crossed this morning, as he finds out whether a number of key players will be returning from injury.

The club has had injury problems since October and was expecting to get a number of players back for this weekend’s away tie against St Johnstone.

But poor weather conditions has led to Chisholm not having the chance to assess the fitness of his men before today.

However, today and tomorrow morning will be key for the Doonhamers as they find out whether defenders Craig Barr and Craig Reid will return from injury.

Bob Harris is definitely out.

But Tosh, Burns and Dobbie, who all received knocks during the clash with Clyde a fortnight ago, are available for the game.

Speaking to the Standard, Chisholm said: “We’re still waiting for news on a few players.

“The weather hasn’t been kind to anyone looking to train. Some of the boys have been out for months, so we don’t want to rush them out before they’re ready.

“We’ve shown earlier in the season that when the lads are all fit, we can beat anyone. But we do need a full squad to compete.”

And Chisholm has revealed to the Standard that he will be looking to bring a few new faces to the club during the transfer window.

With on-loan Cammy Bell and Jamie Adams both heading back to their clubs, and Craig Sives having returned to Hearts last month, Chisholm is looking to replace the players.

He said: “We’re looking to bring in another goalkeeper and there’s two other spaces to fill.

“Whether that’s through signing players or arranging loan deals, we’ll have to see.”

But the Queens boss made it clear that the fresh faces were more likely to be brought in on loan deals.

Queen of the South travel to Perth to face top of the table St Johnstone on Saturday.

And although Queens have been far from great lately, Chisholm is looking at things in a positive light.

He said: “The way I’m looking at it is, we’re three points off second.

“We haven’t taken any points from our last four games and we’re still right in it.

“If we could have kept picking up points here and there we’d be in an even stronger position.”

And with the chance to cut the gap between Queens and the top spot to four points, the Doonhamers will know how important tomorrow’s game is.