Jim Goodwin is hopeful young guns Archie Meekison and Mathew Cudjoe could be fit to face Peterhead.

However, the Dundee United boss will play the waiting game with Declan Gallagher as the big defender nurses a slight groin strain.

Meekison was absent from United’s squad for the 1-1 draw against Raith Rovers on Saturday due to a twisted knee, with Goodwin bemoaning the Scotland under-21 international’s lack of good fortune.

The gifted midfielder’s 11 appearances have largely been from the bench, with Goodwin rueing: “Archie has been really unlucky over the course of the season.

“He has struggled to put consecutive training weeks together in the last wee while; just little knocks and niggles he has been picking up.”

However, he expects Meekison to be back in full training later this week and, given Craig Sibbald and Ross Docherty returned ahead of schedule from their own recent injuries, a place in the engine room could be up for grabs if Goodwin chooses to rotate.

And the Irishman also hopes Cudjoe is in contention, admitting he’ll “push” the Ghanaian ahead of the trip to Balmoor, given he suffered a dead leg on the back of a two match suspension.

As such, he hasn’t played since September 16.

“Archie Meekison should be back training with the group in the latter part of the week and we’ll have a decision on whether to include him in the squad for the weekend,” he continued.

“We have got bumps and scrapes, like many squads out there but nothing too significant. We’ll have a competitive squad for this game on Saturday.

“Cudjoe picked up a dead leg at the end of last week and it has dragged on a little more than we have anticipated.

“But we are going to try to push him this weekend because it’d be really good to get him minutes. He has missed a couple of games with the suspension and we’d like to have him available.”

Declan Gallagher update

However, it seems unlikely that Goodwin will treat Gallagher with the same urgency.

The defender limped off after 77 minutes in Kirkcaldy and was ably replaced by Ross Graham; that would appear an obvious swap if the experienced stopper is not 100% fit ahead of the weekend.

Goodwin notes that Graham is “desperate for minutes”.

Similarly, Louis Moult played for a longer stretch than Goodwin had anticipated — or desired — at the weekend. If needed, Tony Watt could continue in attack, allowing the former Burton Albion man another week of rest ahead of a crunch league game with Partick Thistle.

“Gallagher limped off with a slight groin strain but we don’t think it’s anything too serious,” confirmed Goodwin. “Whether we risk him on Saturday?

“We’ll make a decision later in the week.

“Louis Moult came through his half-hour fine, thankfully, albeit he wasn’t 100% going into it. We felt there might be a cause to use him at some point which is why we included him in the squad.”

Goodwin was speaking from The Courier’s headquarters in the heart of Dundee, where 100 years of United memorabilia is on display until Thursday, October 13.