Drey Wright is back on the training ground, St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson has revealed.
The summer signing has been sidelined with a minor injury recently but Davidson is hopeful that his second spell with the Perth club will be up and running in the League Cup group games – though not as early as Tuesday night’s opener against Annan Athletic.
Meanwhile, Saints won’t be rushing captain Liam Gordon back into action, as they seek to find the best solution to his shin splints issue.
“Drey has been training,” Davidson reported. “He’ll be available either this week or next week.
“That will be a big plus for us.
“He’ll give the team real pace and power.
“Liam’s a wee bit of a concern. He struggled with shin splints up in Inverness and we want to rule a few possibilities out to make sure he’s OK.
“He might miss the first couple of League Cup games.”
Wotherspoon ‘twisting and turning’
David Wotherspoon will only have a chance of featuring in the competition if Saints reach the knock-out rounds but the Canadian international’s comeback is progressing well.
“David is coming along great,” said Davidson. “He’s twisting and turning. It’s a gradual build-up.
“It’s important we take our time to make sure he’s right for the rest of his career.”
The McDiarmid Park boss added: “Callum (Booth) has had an operation on his Achilles. He’s 10 weeks away from now.
“Tony (Gallacher) will see the specialist today. He’ll hopefully be weight bearing on his leg from now on and we can build him up.”
More signings?
Saints are hoping to add a new goalkeeper to their squad this week and as far as more outfield signings are concerned, performances in the League Cup will inform that decision-making.
“I’m pleased with the squad,” said Davidson.
“If I had the ones I’ve talked about available I’d be over the moon with it.
“There’s a lot of depth when everyone’s back. It feels like we’re a bit light at the moment but you can’t just keep spending money on players.
“These games will show me where our strengths and weaknesses are.
“They’re massive for the younger players trying to get in the team.
“It will dictate where we need to strengthen.”
Reflecting on the last pre-season match – a 3-2 win over Cove Rangers – and looking forward to the resumption of competitive football, Davidson said: “There were a lot of things that were really good on Saturday.
“In the previous game in Inverness we’d played a back four. It was back to our tried and trusted, if you like, against Cove and I thought our shape was good.
“It was only the third game so you can’t expect too much from the boys at this stage because they’re still getting fit.
— St. Johnstone FC (@StJohnstone) July 11, 2022
“We need to be ready to go on Tuesday night. A lot of the boys who will start have played in the game so far.
“Others are playing catch-up a bit. We know we need to get minutes into players and get wins.
“Liam (Craig) has watched Annan and he says they play good football.
“It’s about how we play – we want to start at the right tempo and make sure we’re not sloppy to make it difficult for ourselves.”
St Johnstone closing in on new goalkeeper – with Callum Davidson hopeful of deal this week
Conversation