DEFENDERS Kyle Benedictus and Rhys Breen could be back in "the next three or four weeks" which would give Athletic "real options all over the pitch".

Assistant boss, Dave Mackay, provided an update to Press Sport this week on the duo, who have been missing since last month's derby defeat at Raith Rovers.

Captain Benedictus, who had just returned to the side after suffering a fracture in his foot at Inverness in September, has picked up a thigh problem, whilst Breen was taken off with a hamstring issue.

The Pars were boosted on Saturday by Matty Todd and Kane Ritchie-Hosler, who came off the bench against Dundee United the week prior, making their first league starts of the season after injury issues, and Mackay is hopeful centre backs Benedictus and Breen will soon be back in the fold.

"Earlier in the campaign, it's been well publicised the amount of injuries that we've had since the beginning of the season, so it's great to have those two back," he said.

"Obviously, we're a little bit short in defensive areas with Rhys Breen and Kyle Benedictus missing at the minute, but hopefully they won't be too far away. Maybe in the next three or four weeks we'll hopefully see them as well, and once we get to that stage, then we've got real options all over the pitch.

"It is great to have Matty and Kane back. They've not had a great start to the season from a personal point of view through injuries, but now they're back fit, looking good, and got some minutes under their belt on Saturday. It provides very good options for us.

"It was always the plan just to try and get as many minutes into their legs as possible. They're still in the process of getting up to speed. They're training every day, which is great, but in terms of actual game time, we've not been able to arrange friendlies, or there's not been any reserve games recently where they could've topped their minutes up.

"It was about getting them in, making sure we managed their game time as well, because the last thing we want is them getting a muscle injury due to them being overworked in such a short period of time.

"Both guys have come through it fine and started training again this week as normal."

Mackay added that on-loan Celtic midfielder, Ben Summers, is "probably 50-50" for tomorrow's match due to a "niggly ankle injury", while Andrew Tod remains sidelined.