Steven MacLean has admitted that adding pace to his attack is a transfer priority.
And the St Johnstone manager has confirmed that one of his key forward players, Drey Wright, is already an injury doubt for Saturday’s clash with Ross County.
“Drey injured his calf at the weekend,” said MacLean. “He’ll be assessed. It’s still early.
“We hope it will settle down and we’ll know more where we are with that on Tuesday.”
On the theme of where Saints’ recruitment journey is likely to go next, MacLean said: “I’d like another midfielder, a wide player and another striker.
“We are looking at a bit of pace, in wide areas. We are working hard on that.
“Fingers crossed we can get a couple in this week.
“We are spinning plates. Things can change but we would like stuff done as soon as possible.
“I think people could see the direction we’re trying to go in with the players we’ve brought in.
“We’ve got enough senior players at the club so it’s about getting the blend right.
“If we can add a few more, we can get to where we need to go.”
Bounce game
Luke Jephcott didn’t start the first league game of the season as MacLean gives him the chance to build up his fitness.
The former Plymouth striker played Monday’s closed-doors game, which also featured trialist, Ernaldo Krasniqi and new signing, Matt Smith.
“I’ve probably not been fair on Jephcott,” said MacLean. “I played him too soon. It’s my responsibility but I had to.
“I’m just trying to accelerate people as much as I can.
“It’s hard because in pre-season you want all your squad in place and to work on what you want to implement.
“You’re trying to get everyone up to speed.
“Jephs was off for 10 weeks and he came in, trained three days then played Alloa, Ayr then Stirling. You can’t judge him just now.”
Step by step for St Johnstone player Phillips
Dan Phillips is another player whose game-time is being carefully monitored.
“We gave Dan 20 v Alloa, 60 against Stirling then 70,” said MacLean.
“I had to take him off on Saturday. He was getting to that danger area where he could get injured again.
“He was very tired. You want to push them but you can’t break them because the last thing we need is more injuries.”
Dan Phillips took on the crossbar challenge this morning and managed 5️⃣/🔟 to sit him at the top of the @ScotlandSky leaderboard ✅#SJFC
— St. Johnstone FC (@StJohnstone) July 27, 2023
Meanwhile, neither Ali Crawford nor Callum Booth is likely to be available for selection at the weekend but there is encouraging news regarding three others.
“Kano (Chris Kane) and Cammy (MacPherson) had injections on Friday and hopefully that will speed up the process,” he reported.
“Nicky Clark had a scan. It’s healing, which is good. He’s got another week to rest then we will try and run him and see if he’s better.
“If he’s still sore then it’s back to the surgeon but hopefully there’s just another wee bit to go and in 10 days he can be fully recovered.
“It’s then just about building him up again.
“James Brown has got a chance for the weekend but he’s not done a lot of training.”
Conversation