DAVE ALWAYS PREPARED TO HANG TOUGH

DAVE RICHARDS joked his “leg would have to hang off” as he soldiered on despite a head knock from Hibs’ Zach Mitchell in last Saturday's Tannadice draw.

- BY DAVID REID

The Tangerines goalie required a tidy-up from the doctors at halftime before persevering in the second period and returned to training on Tuesday prior to another tasty tussle in the New Firm derby at Aberdeen this evening.

Richards has seen limited game-time since arriving in Scotland over two years ago via St Johnstone.

But it would have needed more than a battering on the left eye from Mitchell to have a watching brief again.

He said: “My leg would have to be hanging off to come off!

“I wasn’t coming off for anything! It was sore on Sunday when I woke up but it felt better on Monday then I was back out again training on Tuesday - so I'm good as gold.

“There was swelling but my adrenaline more than anything got me through.

“The doc blasted it with Vaseline - him and the physios were brilliant at halftime.