Injured Oliver targeting Dundee United return

Forward Gary Oliver expects to miss tomorrow’s away fixture against Dunfermline Athletic but has set his sights on a return to action before the end of the season.

The 23-year-old was forced off after 30 minutes of last Saturday’s 2-0 win at Falkirk when an awkward fall saw him sustain a shoulder injury.

Oliver was concerned that he had suffered a break to the same area of collarbone that he fractured during a Scottish Cup tie against Peterhead last November.

However, an X-ray has confirmed this is not the case, and the frontman is hopeful that he could be fit in time to make a return against Dundee United on 4 May.

He said: “The injury isn’t as bad as I first thought. I 100 per cent thought I’d broken the collarbone again. I just put my forearm down on the ground to prevent myself from falling and heard a crunch and thought: ‘Aw, naw.’

“It was the same feeling and same noise I heard when I broke it the first time, so I went for an X-ray and they told me it was just a muscular issue.

“That’s a lot better than what I first thought, so it’s good news. It would have been an absolute nightmare if I had broken it again after working so hard to get my fitness back and back into the team.

“Because it’s only muscular I’m hoping it will just be a few more days and I can train next week. It’s still weak and I expect to miss tomorrow, but I’m looking at the Dundee United game, hopefully.

“I think I need to go for it. If it’s the last game of the season I just need to go through the pain. But it is getting better day by day.”

Image: Gary Bradley