Ryan Strain a doubt as Dundee United face injury issues ahead of Aberdeen clash

Dundee United have concerns over the fitness of Ryan Strain in particular as they face being without four defenders for Saturday’s trip to Aberdeen.

Strain and Ross Graham both went off with groin injuries in the weekend draw with Hibernian while Krisztian Keresztes was substituted at half-time because of a calf issue.

United manager Jim Goodwin, who was already without Iurie Iovu through injury, said: “Ryan Strain probably looks the more serious of the three. Both himself and Ross Graham have been for scans. We’re just awaiting the results of those.

“Keresztes, we took him off more of a precautionary measure than anything else. We didn’t want to risk him again in the second half for that to become worse. So he’s touch and go for Saturday.”

Australian wing-back Strain has missed several months of the start of both of his first two seasons at Tannadice, because of hamstring and knee injuries, after his final campaign with St Mirren was disrupted by groin surgery.

“It’s a big year for Strainer,” Goodwin said. “He was wanting to try and get back to the form that we all know he’s capable of and make a late push for the World Cup.

“But we don’t want to jump the gun with regards to what the injury is. Hopefully, it’s nothing too serious.”

Goodwin’s squad came to the fore as they claimed a point against Hibs despite the triple blow. Dario Naamo, who has only made one start for United, replaced Strain while 19-year-old Sam Cleall-Harding came on at half-time for his first appearance of the season.

“We’ve done great recruitment in the summer,” Goodwin said. “We tried to strengthen every area and to make sure that if and when the injuries and suspensions came along that we were going to have players within the squad that could step in and do a similar job to the guy that they’ve replaced. I think Saturday showed that.

“Dario Naamo is a 20-year-old. He came on for Ryan Strain and Dario had been out for a few weeks himself with an injury. Credit to him, he played pretty much 90 minutes and looked fantastic.

“Losing guys like Ross Graham and Keresztes and even Iovu, who I think in the last five or six games that he’s played has been very, very consistent, it would make a huge difference and weaken a lot of teams. But it hasn’t done to us against some really, really difficult opponents.”