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FRASER Fyvie admits he was delighted to finally return to action in our 1-0 Betfred League Cup victory over Forfar Athletic at Balmoral Stadium.

Midfielder Fraser featured for just over an hour in what was his first competitive appearance since our 7-1 win over Stirling Albion in League Two back in March.

That was because he suffered a knee injury during the build-up to the current campaign.

The former Aberdeen, Wigan, Hibs and Dundee United player said: “It was good just to get 65 minutes under my belt.

“It was annoying to have done the pre-season and then find myself out for six weeks.”

When asked if he felt ready to go again when we return to League One action, away to Falkirk, this coming weekend, Fraser replied: “Yeh, I’m available for selection.

“We obviously have a suspension (Jamie Masson) but the majority of the boys are now fit, so I know I can’t expect anything.

“The boys have been playing well to cement their places so far, they have been great to watch.

“All I could do was put in a performance (against Forfar) and then wait and see if I get a place next weekend.”

Rory McAllister decided the tie with a well taken penalty midway through the second half, after skipper Mitch Megginson had seen his spot-knock saved by the Forfar keeper.

The Loons, who had lost 3-0 to us in the league seven days before, certainly made it tough and even had two efforts cleared off our line by Ryan Strachan in the latter stages.

Fraser said: “You have to give Forfar credit, they were a massive improvement on last week.

“They had a really good shape about them and were difficult to break down. They also worked Stuart (McKenzie) a few times, he had a few good saves.”

“But we got the win in the end, so we were happy with that.”

Manager Paul Hartley wasn’t 100% pleased with our performance.

He said: “I didn’t think we played particularly well. Forfar were much improved and made it difficult for us but we can do better.”

“We won the game, but the standards dropped.”

The main positive for Paul was the return of Fraser.

On that, he said: “It was nice to get him some minutes and see him back on the pitch.”

The win meant we finished third in our League Cup group, behind full-time duo Hibs and Dundee.

Paul said: “It’s disappointing we couldn’t qualify from what was a tough group, but we move on now.

“We will get back to work on Tuesday to begin our build-up to the league meeting with Falkirk.”

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