Drey Wright’s recovery from a season-ending knee injury is well underway.
And the St Johnstone winger has total faith that he will be back for pre-season.
This is the second time that the Englishman has been sidelined with a cruciate injury and the fact that the recuperation process is a familiar one is already proving to be a benefit.
“Knowing that I’ve been through this before will help this time around,” said Wright.
“I was only 19 last time.
“I’m more prepared for what is to come.
“I know the season is over. If everything went perfectly you could maybe squeeze in a game or two at the end of this one but it wouldn’t be worth it really. It’s better to take the extra time and come back for pre-season.
“That’s the aim.
“The last time it happened was also in November and I made it back for July then.
“I know that it will take time to get fit and then to get back to the level of sharpness that you need but I also know it will come.”
As is often the case with cruciate injuries, the incident involving Wright in the Kilmarnock match at the end of November was an innocuous one.
“The ball was near the touchline and we were both going for it,” he recalled.
“When you slow down the video you can see that as I plant my leg it stays where it is and my bodyweight goes over the top of it.
“With having done my cruciate ligament before, I thought with the initial pain that it was serious.
“Once I got back into the dressing room the shock went away and I was actually thinking it might be OK. Over the weekend it ballooned up and that kind of swelling normally indicates something bad has happened.
“By the time we got the scan results back I’d got my head around the fact that it was a bad one.
“It’s just one of those things.
“I was really pleased with how things were going for me and we were in a really good place as a team.
“The most disappointing thing is missing the rest of a season that could be a really good one for us.
“I came here to be a mainstay of the team and that was what I was doing.
“To have that taken away was disappointing but it happens in football.”
Wright is now back at McDiarmid Park for his recovery programme and he hopes to be watching his team-mates from the stand when the season resumes after this month’s break.
“I watched the Rangers game on the TV and found ways to watch the St Mirren and Dundee games as well.
“Now I’m back in I’ll be going to pretty much all the games.
“After the Rangers loss it was great to win the two games going into the break.
“We’re in a really good place.”
Wright added: “Everyone here has been brilliant with me.
“I can’t thank them enough. From the club paying for everything, to the physio and the manager.”
The fact that Saints have coped without Wright, who was arguably their best player at the time of the injury, speaks volumes about the strength of Tommy Wright’s squad.
“It’s hard to single out players in our team,” said the 23-year-old.
“The reason we’re doing so well is because of the quality of the team from front to back.
“Obviously the likes of Tony (Watt) and Matty (Kennedy) have already been down south and performed well down there.
“Zander (Clark) has been brilliant in goal. The rest of the back four have been brilliant as well.
“I didn’t know much about Jase (Jason Kerr) but he’s been really impressive at such a young age. Fozzy (Richard Foster) was great for me on my side of the pitch and Scotty (Scott Tanser) has got better and better with every game.”
