St Johnstone’s star man Stevie May is touch and go for the Europa League clash against Slovakian side Spartak Trnava.
The absence of the formidable frontman from the third qualifying round first leg at McDiarmid Park would be a huge blow for club and player.
Assistant boss Callum Davidson, who has been taking the team while manager Tommy Wright attends the funeral of his mother in Northern Ireland, revealed that May has suffered yet another thigh injury.
It was a similar problem which ruled him out of the away match against Luzern in the previous round and Davidson yesterday admitted that he has now hurt his other leg.
“Stevie is struggling and we will need to wait and see with him,” said Davidson. “He has a thigh problem but not the same one that ruled him out of the game against Luzern.”
“We hope he will be OK but we don’t know yet. He didn’t train and we will need to monitor him. We have options if he doesn’t make it.
“He played 120 minutes against Luzern last Thursday night which was his first full game of the season and it’s a lot to ask of him. So maybe it is just a bit of fatigue in his muscles.
“I just don’t believe we can afford to risk him. We only have two strikers him and Steven Maclean and we don’t want to put him out for longer. We just wouldn’t take a chance.
“If he had two or three guys behind him who could come in then it would be a different story but we have four games in 10 days so if he’s not ready then we need to make sure he’s fit for the return.
“He is desperate to play, though. These are the games you want to play in so we all have our fingers crossed.”
Meanwhile, both Steven Anderson and Gary McDonald are likely to be available.