On-form striker Chris Kane will be returning to St Johnstone in January, Perth boss Tommy Wright has insisted.
The young forward made a goal-scoring comeback from injury with his loan club Dumbarton on Saturday.
On the back of their match with Hibs, and Kane’s peformance in it, Sons manager Ian Murray has expressed his hope that he will be able to persuade Wright to let the player stay on at the Championship club for the rest of the season.
That plea will fall on deaf ears, however.
Wright, who won’t be allowing Dumbarton to play Kane in the Scottish Cup this weekend, explained: “We will be bringing Chris back in January.
“I can understand why Ian would want him to stay but all along we’ve said it would just be until the new year.
“It’s unfortunate that Chris got injured and missed eight weeks, but he’s come back and scored for them again at the weekend.
“He’s got three goals in four matches for Dumbarton, which is a good return for any striker.
“So I believe he can come back to us and play a part definitely.
“He’s a good striker, he’s a goalscorer and being out on loan has been good for him, despite not playing as much because of the injury.
“We had to let Chris go to get a player in, but we want him back now.”
The return of Kane at the turn of the year will hopefully coincide with Steven MacLean coming back from injury.
And Wright is looking forward to the striking options he will have at his disposal.
He pointed out: “If we have him, Steven MacLean back from injury and then Brian Graham and James McFadden that’s a decent four strikers to have available to you.
“Obviously Macca is still injured at the moment but he’s coming along well and he’s telling us he’ll be fit in January.
“He came back early last season and reckons he’s on track to do the same this year.
“With Faddy playing really well and Graham getting goals, having four good strikers would let me look elsewhere in January.
“If I have those four fit and available, it lets me look at strengthening other areas of the team.”